Behind Enemy Lines
by WitchGirl
Summary: A battle continues between Raven and an old rival, leading to a body switch and a manipulation of trusts. Raven seeks her friends out to warn them. But something happens along the way. Life. Love. And the consequences of never having experienced either.
1. 11:00: Falling Into Hell

Behind Enemy Lines

Summary: Raven gets a wake up call– and is not where she's supposed to be. She needs to pit her friends against her body if she wants to save their lives. And yet, at the same time, she has to convince them to trust her mind within 12 hours, or she's lost to them forever...

****

Author's Notes and Dedication: There comes a time in every fan fiction author's life when she has to give credit to those people behind her genius, the people that make HER look good. Up until now, I've been taking all the credit, arrogant as I am, but really, you have someone else to thank for this story. Someone who I can always find online when I need her and often times go online solely to talk to her and say "Hey, what do you think if I did this...?" Someone who tolerates my arrogance and laughs. Someone who kindly reads the excerpts I bombard her with patient enthusiasm and always gives excellent feedback and motivation. If it wasn't for this person and her incredibly story "Mind Games," _which she has kindly dedicated to **The Sage of Story** and myself, this _SEQUEL (_yes, sequel, I will get to that_) _would not be in existence. Her intricately woven tale of Raven's quest for sanity during the near fatal woundings of three of her friends (by, mysteriously, her OWN hand) has captivated my imagination to write a _SEQUEL _(wow, that word again) to my existing Teen Titan's fan fiction, _"Dangerous Minds"._ This wonderfully helpful, clever, and talented person goes by the pen name, _**Instant Coffee**, _or Heather as some have come to know her as, as well as a myriad of other pseudonym and nicknames. If you are a Teen Titan fan who enjoys a myriad of ships, including Beast Boy/Raven, Robin/Starfire, and, if I understand correctly, Raven/Robin, plus many more (one thing I admire about her is that she explores many different possibilities), then I strongly suggest you take a peek at her profile. If you enjoy a good jolting psychological thriller, or have read the prequel to this tale and enjoyed it, I strongly encourage you to read her captivating story, _"Mind Games" _which is dedicated to wonderful me, of course. But only explore Instant Coffee's profile and her intriguing Titan Tales after you have finished with chapter one of my new SEQUEL. Because I'm arrogant, all I request is that you humor me in my endeavor._

Yes, faithful readers who have to read every Author's Notes instead of skip directly to the meaningless story, this little piece here happens to be a SEQUEL._ This does NOT by any means mean that I expect you to have read or even have any inkling of the story it succeeds. Therefore, for your convenience, I shall include a SUMMARY of the previous story, for those who have not read it, or those who have and forgot what happened. I do expect venturous readers to read this story without understanding at first. The first chapter is quite confusing. All I ask of you for this chapter is to lay back and don't strain yourself too much trying to put the pieces together at first. By the end of chapter two, all questions from chapter one should be answered (though more shall be raised). Kudos to those who DO understand (despite my best efforts to baffle) what exactly is happening to our favorite Dark Heroine. So while I do hope you don't spend too much time pondering over it, I also encourage you to ask questions and make theories. For this is the sign of an active mind, and can make these stories all the more intriguing. Who knows, I may like your theory better than I like what I had written, in which case the whole story will be altered and I will bow down to you like a God._

_Heather, no giving away the story line. :-P!_

**Summary of "Dangerous Minds"  
**"Dangerous Minds" started out as an exploration of Raven's mental capabilities. Using the idea that her mind, body, and powers were intricately linked, I wondered, "What would a human do with such powers?" I gave Raven a mentor by the name of Charles Larkin, a person more than a man, but less than human. With mental powers stronger than Raven's, he taught her, but when she learned of his evil intentions, she beat him at his own game, bannishing him into the head of a child (you learn, in this story, who that child was as well). Years later, when Raven joins the Teen Titans, he wants revenge. He successfully turns two of her friends, Cyborg and Beast Boy, against her, for it appeared to them that she sent Robin into a coma. Starfire does not believe it, and does everything she can to help Raven, and even goes against Cyborg's direct orders. Raven, in her search for Larkin, finds him in the most unlikely of places-- _Robin's mind. _Catapulted into the head of their leader, she engages in the mental battle of her life, offering to sacrifice herself to save Robin's life. The fight transfer's to Raven's own head where she succeeds in throwing Larkin's mind beyond her mental borders, a crash that could cause him much psychological damage, rendering him possibly insane. Larkin dissappears, and things return to normal...

For a time...

_As Shakespeare would say, _On with the Story! (_Or maybe it wasn't Shakespeare who said that... I'll ask BB, he seems to be an avid fan of the Play Write. A joke best understood after reading the next few chapters.)_

For your sanity, I shall shut up now and let you read.

* * *

Chapter One: 11:00: Falling into Hell

10:00

Her awakening was sharp and sudden, her sweat dripping down her clammy white cheek as she shivered in the heat. Something was playing jungle rhythms on her heart. The drumbeats called to her, taunting her, urging her to remember...

What had she dreamed about?

There was something about Russian-speaking badgers...

Raven shook her head wildly to clear it of absurdity, trying to decipher her dreams through the fatuity.

Snakes.

She snarled at the thought, picturing the large grotesque demon that had been haunting her dreams lately. She hadn't thought of him for months. Why was he invading her sleep now? She frowned, her deciphering complete, and moved onto the interpreting stage...

Dreams, Raven knew, were like any good novel in a high school English class. They were given to you to be analyzed and dissected like a frog until the bare innards of the hidden message lay flat before your eyes. For dreams were often warnings from her subconscious that things were not alright with her mind.

Sighing, she reluctantly swung her tired legs out of bed. She walked to her window and pulled back her blackout curtains to see how early it was, hissing like an offended vampire when the burning light violated her pupils. Letting the curtains fall, she shied away from the window like an unhappy cat. Grumpily, she made her way to her desk, pushing aside her Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and the Supernatural to reveal her Dream Interpreter, pulling out the blue hardcover book with satisfaction. She sat cross-legged on her floor, opening the book in her lap.

She knew the cobra meant villainy and trickery, and often treachery. She wasn't sure which it meant in this case. But there were other things in her dream that she recognized as symbols, though didn't understand. The phoenix, she learned, meant a rebirth of some sort, which, Raven realized, should have been obvious. She also remembered seeing a pentagram and remembered that the symbol was seen only when powerful mental forces were at work. She looked for what the orchid could mean. The flower had been dark and withering, its color a sickly eggplant purple. But she could find nothing.

So what did it all _mean_?

She could feel the migraine knocking at her door, tugging at the edge of her nerves. Frowning in annoyance as if the terrifying expression would scare it away (as it often scared some of her friends), she rose to her feet and made her way to the roof. She hoped some of that hated sunlight might chase away some shadows from her mind.

She was startled to find Starfire there already, staring contentedly at the skyline of the city. The Tamaranian hadn't noticed Raven's entrance.

"Good morning, Starfire," Raven said, her voice a low rumble of minor irritation. She'd been hoping to be alone. She tucked her Dream Interpreter– which she had brought along for further study– beneath her cloak and out of sight.

The alien jumped at the telekinetic's simple statement, spinning on her heal to greet her with her usual large, warm welcome.

"And what a glorious morning it is, my friend," she said, sounding almost a little too chirpy for her own good, as far as Raven was concerned. "Why are you up at this late hour? The bird has sang ten times."

It took Raven a moment to decipher this little sentence of Star-Speak. Then she remembered Beast Boy's birthday present to her. He'd hidden the coo-coo clock in Raven's room somewhere, leaving her damned to hear the incessant chirping of the wooden bird every hour on the hour, plus the short reminder every quarter of an hour. Driven nearly insane by the machine's endless noise, when Raven had finally found it, she through the wretched thing at Beast Boy's head, luckily missing him as it made an indent in the wall behind him, falling to pieces.

Starfire had collected up the remains sadly and carefully, as if it were ashes of a body that deserved respect. With help from Robin and Cyborg, she'd succeeded in putting the thing together again, delighting whenever the hour turned when she could hear her little wooden pet sing just for her. And in reality, the clock was working quite well...

So long as Raven wasn't in hearing distance, that is.

Raven gave a curt huff and a roll of the eyes at the memory. "I'm not a morning person," she said to Starfire in reply to her query.

"I did not know there was such thing," said Starfire with a curious frown. Raven's lips twitched and her irritation with the alien girl subsided a little.

"I've never met one myself," Raven told her. Starfire frowned.

"What is that you are holding beneath your cloak, friend Raven?" she asked, innocently. Raven's annoyance returned as she turned away from her comrade.

"None of your business," she hissed. But Starfire's eyes were so wide, Raven had to relent in her usual coldheartedness. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and handed Starfire the book.

"I've been having these really disturbing dreams lately, about... Larkin." Raven whispered the word, as if it were forbidden to speak it. Starfire looked silently alarmed.

"You are certain it is about that fiend?" she said, the surprise evident in her voice.

Raven nodded and then looked at the pale blue book in Starfire's hands. "I've been studying the symbols in the dream. The snake is treachery, the phoenix means rebirth, and the pentagram means powerful and mysterious forces. But I can't figure out what this damn orchid means."

"Please explain your dream to me," said Starfire, watching Raven with rapture. "I am intrigued and curious to learn about it."

Raven hesitated, eying Starfire warily. Usually taciturn, this was more than her usual amount of speaking for a day. But she remembered how faithfully the Tamaranian had stuck by her side throughout her last traumatic experience with Larkin, and found confidence in telling her.

"I'm sort of in this jungle or... something," Raven started, unsure of the details of her surroundings. "Then there's the cobra in my path that hisses at me with yellow eyes. It strikes and bites me, then slithers away, trampling a flower in its wake. Strangely, I don't care about the poisoned wound on my hand from the cobra. I run to the orchid the snake slithered over as its wilting. Its dark purple flowers are drooping and its sickly dark green stem trembles with the weight of the flower. I tend to it, but nothing happens... Then there all these badgers and they start talking Russian, it's really weird," Raven added quickly. "Anyway, before I know it, I'm surrounded by snakes. Their yellow eyes peer at me from the tree tops. Suddenly, there's this shrill cry and this crimson bird rises up above the canopy, screeching and burning... It swoops at me, and the snakes attack, biting at whatever they can get a hold of, but all I care about is the orchid... I turn my eyes to the sky and the phoenix is staring down at me... with the same yellow eyes as the snake... Larkin's voice rings in my ears, saying..." Raven frowned as she hesitated.

With bated breath, Starfire dared to ask, "Saying what?"

The clock sings eleven, I'll steal your breath.  
Your lungs, your heart in your beating chest...  
The clock sings eleven, I'll make you bleed.  
Pain will be when it sings thirteen...

The words echoed in Raven's head, but she didn't dare speak them out loud. They unnerved her enough in her sleep. That wicked mental voice from that old maniac...

"Raven?" Starfire whispered, as if afraid she were asleep with her eyes open. Raven jumped and inhaled sharply.

"My _God_, Starfire, you scared the hell out of me," she said, visibly shaken. Starfire frowned.

"Perhaps you would like some tea?" she offered.

Raven shook her head. "I have to tell you," she said. "That sick and twisted rhyme Larkin keeps singing in my head."

Once the rhyme had been uttered, Starfire stared at Raven blankly. "I do not comprehend..." she said. "What does he wish to take from you?"

"I haven't figured that out yet," Raven said, a chill running down her spine. "Maybe kill me."

Starfire gasped. "But he is not currently of this earth, correct?" she cried, hopefully. "You told us that he is mind and not body– he has no tool to use in this reality!"

"None that I knew of at any rate..." said Raven, pensively. "When he tried to take over Robin, that was a risk... He wouldn't have deserted his child's body, I don't think... The only thing is, I can't figure out where he would have kept it. When I first banished him, I'd chosen the body of a boy that he'd killed earlier by incapacitating his mind. A boy named Jordan, his own son."

"He killed his own son?" said Starfire, nearly breathless. "How horrible!"

"I know," said Raven, gravely, with the ghost of a smile. "And ironic. I thought so, anyway, when choosing to banish him in his own son's body. He hadn't intended on killing him. He called it 'toughening him up.' He put so much mental pressure on the boy that he destroyed the walls of his mind, thus depriving him of his soul. The boy was sound in health otherwise. For a while, he wandered like a zombie before the broken shards of glass that remained of his mind collapsed in on itself and he died of brain failure. Merely days later I defeated his father and trapped him in the dead boy's skull. I still remember his furious mental shrieks haunting me as I flew out of his range, over the ocean, hoping he'd never find me...

"Eventually, the barrier I'd erected to keep him inside his son's head deteriorated and he was free to leave the body and let his mind soar... Star, what you have to understand is, Larkin's mind didn't belong in Jordan's body. A mind and body coexist, like two puzzle pieces that are content how they are. I ruined that relationship when I burned his body and shoved this adult mind into a child's body. It was like wearing a shirt that didn't fit. Because the puzzle pieces no longer connect, Larkin's mind wasn't anchored to his body like the rest of us. I can't leave my body unless I astral project, and that takes time, patience and concentration because I could get lost and blown away from my body, which would kill me. Larkin exists now as a sort of possessive spirit. He can go anywhere."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Starfire inquired, curiously. Raven sighed and bit her lip.

"My point is, Jordan's body is dead in most respects. When Larkin's mind is not using it, it's as it was to begin with: a corpse. If the police found it, they'd do an autopsy and burry it. We'd have heard about it on the news."

"And we have not heard such news..." Starfire said, nodding in understanding.

"God knows what..."

But Raven was cut off by the loud crows of Starfire's coo-coo clock. The telekinetic winced at the sound of it, the screeches bringing back horrible memories of nightmares suffered from Beast Boy's prank.

"Can you shut that thing off?" Raven snapped angrily at Starfire.

"I am sorry," said Starfire as the bird crowed a sixth time. "I did not know it could be heard up here..."

"Well it can," said Raven as she heard it strike eight. "At least shut your door!"

Starfire ran to the door to the roof as the bird let out crow number nine and ten and shut it right as it hit the eleventh note.

All was silent.

* * *

11:00

It felt as though someone had struck her hard on the head. She was reeling, her surroundings spinning in a spiral as it faded in view.

"Raven?" Starfire's curious call echoed throughout the dark girl's psyche, fading with the light as she retreated into the sanctuary of her mind...

Only it was not her own mind.

Half man, half beast, he towered over her, hissing madly. Something was grotesquely wrong. Everything was disproportionate and surreal, like a Salvador Dali painting. And all she could hear was his insane laughter before falling into the dark...

Raven. It was a whisper of an identity that no longer belonged to her. _Raven._ The voice taunted, singing like a child, with the voice of a grown man. _Raven, Raven, RAVEN!_

She felt her feet planted firmly on the ground. Green valleys stretched in every direction, the sun rising like a ruby in the crystal sky. Poppies and wild flowers grew in abundance in this field, untouched by human hands. The grass was tall, almost to her waist. There were the songs of birds chirping madly, as if coming from a tropical rainforest rather than an expansive plain. She frowned when she saw him sitting cross-legged, levitating above a patch of poppies. The flowers seemed to spread from the spot where he lay, fighting the violet orchids that surrounded her. His eyes were closed, but his lips were curled in a strange smile.

"What's going on?" Raven asked. "Why am I here?"

"I tried to warn you," he said, evenly, not opening his eyes as he continued to hover. Raven found herself struggling to keep the orchids fighting back against the crimson flow of the invading flowers.

"Leave me be," Raven ordered. "Please, Larkin, this is futile. You've had your shot at revenge. It's over. Don't make this into something more. It isn't. Let it go."

His eyes snapped open and he glowered at her with those snake-like yellow eyes. "You will never know pain," he hissed. "Not like I have. Not days on end of throwing myself against the skull of my own son trying to escape. Not nights of restless wandering, thoughts overlapping with memories and dreams until they're all one mass of confusion. One is no different from the other. Reality is what we dream it to be. What we _will_ it to be. It is no matter. When the clock sings thirteen, I'll make sure you know pain. Pain beyond your wildest nightmares of Hell. I am the devil, my sweet songbird, and I will make you _bleed_."

His face contorted into a disfigured wreck of a face, part snake, part goat, and part hog, the features of each animal stretched and distorted, like Dante's image of Satan himself.

A crow let out a shriek as it flew across the sapphire sky, bringing with it a night of crimson raining onto the land, black clouds scattered about the side. It landed on the shoulder of the man-beast before her, sneering at the teenager with teeth that did not belong with its beak.

"You have twelve hours," Larkin warned. "Twelve bloody hours to adjust to your surroundings. Misery will consume you as it has consumed me. Rage, hate, all the things you thought you could never feel without compromise. It will drive you mad. Learn, as I have learned, the tortures of Earth and how Hell can never be worse. Meanwhile, in these twelve hours, your friends..." he gave a sick laugh. "Your friends... yes, they shall see you for the monster you are, the demon who has cursed me. Your evil finally exposed, you will die from despair when they condemn you, choosing me as ally and you as foe. And on the thirteenth hour, they shall learn their mistake and parish in flame. On the thirteenth hour, you're mine, my songbird, my little Raven darling. You will be _mine!_"

Raven tumbled backwards, the bloody rain staining her clothes, her screams unheard by grabbing hands passing her down through the very gates of Hell. A black abyss devoid of hope she didn't know what to think or believe. All around her, purple petals tumbled into the fire as they burned. She shrieked as the flames leapt up to receive her.

She was still screaming when she awoke...

* * *

"Doctor, he's lashing out again!" came a voice out of the darkness as the flames consumed her. Feeling them tearing off her skin and ripping at her sinew until the bare bone was charred black, she wondered, _Why aren't I dead yet? Is this Hell, to feel this pain? _

"50 ccs of Haldol!" came another voice.

A stabbing sensation in her burnt arm and she shrieked in agony, using whatever ounce of strength she had to twist her shoulder and elbow it away with her bones, knocking something with a crash.

"Abby, are you OK?"

A great fatigue overwhelmed her. She groaned. Was this death? Would the pain end?

"Fine, Dr. Taylor. Is he subdued?"

Everything was moving slower. The voices were slow and slurred.

"He's calming down."

She opened her eyes to white. It blinded her and she shut them tight again. So tired...

"Any luck contacting family yet?"

The whiteness invaded her pupils behind her eyelids, creating a blazing orange. _Please, go away. Were is the darkness? Please, oh, please go away..._

"I'm afraid not. We can't really be sure who his family is until he gives us a real name. There are no reports of a missing boy, and no one's come looking for him."

She turned her head to the side, hoping to find solace in her pillow, but something kept her from turning fully... then she felt the leather binds on her arms.

"Maybe they abandoned him. It's not often one finds a child with such a deteriorated mind. His parents might not have wanted to deal with it. Any knowledge of how this happened to him yet, Dr. Taylor?"

Get me out of here, she thought, she begged, she prayed. _Please, I just want to find my friends. Where is the darkness?_

"We think that maybe a disease ate away at his brain tissue, reducing him to this. Or perhaps some sort of incomprehensible trauma damaged his sense of self. Whatever it is, it's permanent as far as we can tell. All the kid really needs now is someone to love him. Maybe then he'll begin to act rationally and not so violently. Until then, we'll have to treat him with care."

She wanted to open her eyes again, but was afraid they would burn like the fire. Her arm no longer felt pain. She squinted one eye and noted that it was intact, pale... and small. So small. It was covered in brown scars, dotting her arm like tally marks on a jail-cell wall. She felt so incredibly weak. And so tired...

"It's so sad... He looks so calm, just laying there now. So vulnerable. Whatever his story is, I'm sure it's a grand tragedy. I'm not even sure I'll have the heart to hear it when he's ready to tell."

Who were these people talking around her??? It seemed as though she'd just become aware of the question. Were they her friends? People who loved her? But her friends... that seemed like so long ago. Did she even have friends...?

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that, Abby. He's never coherent enough to understand any questions we ask him. All he mutters about are snakes and birds and other such nonsense. Stars on fire and robots and a myriad of animals... it's impossible to decipher his rants. Almost as if he's living in a fairy tale."

Star... fire?

"Someday, we'll figure it out. I'm sure to be there when we do. And I'll be there to listen. I'll be his friend."

Yes. Yes. She had friends. Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Robin. The Teen Titans.

"It's good to be optimistic, Abby, but this is a lost cause. His CAT Scan shows that his brain is totally destroyed. It seems, though, that only the personality, memory and dream quadrants have been effected. Everything else is intact. I doubt you'll ever get a chance to have a real conversation with the kid."

Yes, she had friends. _But who am I?_

"The miracles of modern medicine, Doctor. I have strong faith in the healing powers of love. You said it yourself, he needs someone to care for him."

Strange how she should remember her friends before herself. Perhaps because she, as a person, was unimportant. _As long as my friends are alright._

"If he'll let anyone care for him. Abby, why do you think he's in solitary confinement? Whoever tries to get close to him is always attacked. Even when restrained, our best psychiatrists have gone to speak to him and come out sobbing! Don't take his innocent look for granted, Abby. I know you're new, so you don't know, but this John Doe Jr is the most dangerous patient on our block. I wouldn't expect him to warm up to you so fast. Be careful with this one, alright?"

But there was something she had to remember. _Who am I?_

"Yes, Doctor, but–"

That's it. Raven. I'm Raven. I am_ a Teen Titan._

"Abby, give me your _word_ that you won't try and make sense out of him!"

And I will always be Raven of the Teen Titans.

"I understand, Doctor."

Nothing and no one will ever change that. I have got to find my friends.

"Good. He'll wake up again in an hour. You can bring him his lunch."

She was smiling. She was satisfied at least with the fact that she knew everything was going to be OK. She wasn't quite sure how, but she knew it would be somehow. Because she had friends. And they would save her from whatever trouble she was in. Because that's what the Teen Titan's do.

"Yes, Dr. Taylor."

There was the sound of retreating footsteps as Raven's fatigue began to overwhelm her. Finally, the bright orange bombarding her eyelids disappeared and the darkness engulfed her.

She welcomed the rest with open arms...


	2. 12:00: Deadly Deadline

**_Author's Note:_** I would like to note that this chapter is a little odd... Larkin's past with Raven may seem irrelevant now, but it is necessary to explain his feelings towards her, and to understand that the malice that exists between them now stemmed from a love neither expressed for each other. No more will be said. You'll understand later.

_To Heather:_ Yeah, I suppose Raven is a little poetic in that speech. Due to my lack of interest in revising this chapter, you may find more infamous typos and poetic speech. Normally, I try to revise things before putting them up, but I was too damn lazy this time. Oh well.

_To Yuna: _I'm glad you're enjoying the sequel. At first, I was unsure if whether or not a sequel was needed... I had left the ending of Dangerous Minds open FOR a sequel, but had never intended on writing one until Heather wrote her captivating tale. I love to find people keeping track of a story and its sequel, it shows loyalty to a story, and it proves that it must be worth reading. Returning readers are often a favorite of mine.

_To Shannon-of-tamaran:_ I am always glad to see new readers and people who can jump on the band wagon without having to have read the prequel (unless you did and didn't review/I forgot). It shows that this story is as interesting as its predecessor, and that it's easy to understand solo as it is with its prequel. I also admire your courage. Normally (and I must be honest), I'm hypocritical and don't read sequels unless I've read the first because I'm afraid of being confused. Because of this unusual fear, I try and make my own sequels (when I write them-- I tend to shy away from them) as clear as possible so they can be read as a stand-alone as well as a sequel.

Also, thank you all of you who are reading this and not reviewing. Often times I stick with a story and never review until the end. I don't review because it isn't good, but more because I would have nothing of value to say other than "write more!" (which, by the way, are one type of reviews that somewhat bother me, especially when it's the only two words in the review). Or, it may be because I'm lazy. Basically, what I'm saying is, I appreciate that you're reading this story. Unlike in the past, I won't beg you to review-- I find it doesn't help much anyway. All I ask is that you stay with the story awhile until it meatens out a little more and just enjoy it. So thank you to those anonymous readers I will never know.

In short, thanks everyone. Thanks Heather, thanks to people like Yuna who liked "Dangerous Minds," thanks to people like Shannon who have not read DM, but are enjoying this story, and thanks to all who read this for enjoyment and do not wish to leave a comment. I love you all. :)

Chapter Two: 12:00: Deadly Deadline

"Raven?"

Starfire stared in wonder at her stoic counterpart. Raven's eyes were closed, her face gaunt and expressionless. She had only turned away from her for a moment to close the door to the roof, because the clock's announcement of the hour had disturbed her. Now, the telekinetic seemed lost in thought.

Starfire waited patiently for her friend to respond, but Raven remained silent.

"Raven, are you damaged?" Starfire asked, worriedly. An eerie feeling fell over her and she had a very odd premonition. Something didn't seem right. "Um, I will be downstairs participating in the ritual of watching the television, so if you have need of me, you may find me there... Um, goodbye..."

And with that, she rushed out the door as quickly as possible, leaning against it once inside and breathing heavily. It had seemed strenuous being in Raven's presence, as if all the energy and happiness were being sucked out of her. It had even felt difficult to breathe. Starfire couldn't explain it.

She heard a rumble of thunder in the distance and hoped Raven would have the sense to come in before the storm.

12:00

By noon the storm was attacking full force. Starfire was snug on the couch watching Cyborg and Beast Boy play video games, a little confused as to how it was done.

"And how is it determined who wins the battle?" she asked.

"Whoever kills the other first," answered Cyborg, pulling his controller to the side as he avoided a blow from Beast Boy's character.

"But is it not the person who relents in killing the other out of honor and respect?" said Starfire, looking worried as Cyborg countered Beast Boy's attack and knocked him to the ground.

"Haha!" Cyborg declared. "One more shot, and you're mine!"

"Star, it doesn't work that way," said Beast Boy, concentrating on the screen. "It's kill or be killed."

"But I have noticed in some Earth cultures fighting is an honor, as it is in Tamaran. One does not aim to kill his opponent, merely demonstrate his great skill."

"I swear, when she talks, she sounds like someone else..." Beast Boy muttered, squinting his eyes to focus on the screen.

"Let's put it this way, Star," Cyborg said, as Beast Boy's character hit him to the ground. "Do _you_ fight to show _your_ skill? Aw, man that was a cheap shot!"

"Was not!" said Beast Boy, grinning as he'd hit Cyborg down a second time as he tried to get up, thus winning the game.

"I fight to maintain justice," said Starfire. "But in this game, you seem to fight and kill merely because it entertains."

Both boys looked at the bemused alien girl blankly.

"And your point is...?" said Beast Boy.

Starfire sighed and shook her head, once again confused with these sadistic Earth customs.

"Relax, Starfire," said Robin as he came over to them from the training room. "There are some things better left unknown."

And then the door slammed.

All heads turned as she walked mechanically down the stairs, soaking wet and dripping water in a puddle as she went. She made her way past them towards the elevator, looking like a zombie, seemingly unaware of all the confused eyes upon her. When she reached it, she seemed to snap out of her trance somewhat. She turned and blinked at them.

"Hello," she said. "What are you looking at?"

"Where are you going?" Robin asked.

"Out," she replied, simply. Robin frowned at her.

"In this weather?"

"I've been in it this long, haven't I?" she said, with a raise of her eyebrows, almost daring him.

Robin was stunned. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. "I..."

"Look, I'll be back," she said, seeming to warm, which only made them more uneasy. "I'm sorry for being so cold I..." she looked away and her eyes seemed to flash with something... alien. She looked up again, her face devoid of emotion as usual. "I have to clear my head a little."

"Raven," said Starfire, eyes wide with interest. "You were saying, up on the roof, about..." but Starfire trailed off at the confused frown on Raven's face. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly and quickly.

"No, Starfire," said Raven. "I believe we finished our conversation on the roof."

"You were concerned," said Starfire, bemused, "about–"

"A quick mental sweep and my concerns have been put to rest," Raven interrupted sharply. "That's why I didn't respond to you... up on the roof... A mental search of the city and any surrounding suburbs. He's gone. Put your fears to rest." She addressed the rest in an almost bored fashion. "I'll be gone about an hour. I need to get my head together. The search drained me." She smiled at them, and Starfire noticed Beast Boy even shiver at the unusual expression. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you even miss me." And with a sweep of her cloak, she was gone.

Everyone stared at the closed elevator doors.

Frowning, Robin seemed to finally find his voice. "Well... that was... odd..."

"Most peculiar," Starfire agreed, nodding.

"What's with her?" Cyborg said, shaking his head in bafflement.

Beast Boy stared blankly at the elevator for a moment. "Yeah... Hey Cy, wanna rematch?"

Cyborg glared at the changeling with a twisted half-smile. "You bet your ass I do," he said.

The two Titans now engaged in mortal combat, Robin stood, still staring pensive at the elevator. Starfire watched him in intrigue.

"You are concerned?" she said.

"When's the last time you saw Raven smile?" he mumbled. "I mean, really. And not try and hide it."

Starfire struggled to remember as she bit her lip. "I do not recall any recent occasion of this phenomenon."

"That's what disturbs me..." said Robin. And without a word, he turned on his heal and retreated to his room, leaving Starfire to stare in wonder at his retreating back.

* * *

Abby Clarke stared at the number of the white door in front of her. 297. She wasn't entirely new to the nursing profession; she'd served in the ER and OR of Jump City Memorial her first two years after school. But this _was_ her first rotation in a mental ward of any sort. And something about Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital bothered her. Maybe it was how all the patients seemed eerily deranged. More than your average schizophrenic or hypochondriac. Their criminal ward was especially creepy. She remembered the room of a man by the identification of Dr. Light. He mumbled incessantly about the cold and always wore about a million blankets, always shivering despite the sweat that always covered his brow. His eyes were perpetually bulging out of their sockets. Terrified of the dark, he was one of the only rooms on the ward allowed to keep his light on. 

Abby knew that life in Sun Oak's would be different. But she'd never expected this. She'd minored in psychology in college, so she'd arrived slightly prepared for what she may encounter. But there was no way she could ever have prepared herself for the little boy laying in that room.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The boy was already awake, sitting up in bed and rolling his head around on his shoulders, groaning off the extra fatigue Haldol often left on a patient. Dr. Taylor had warned her to be careful...

"Good morning, sweetie," said Abby slowly, giving the boy her biggest smile. She held up the tray so she was sure the boy could see it. "I have your lunch. I hope you don't mind peanut butter and jelly."

The boy stopped rolling his head. He straightened his neck and looked directly at her. It reminded Abby of something straight out of _The Exorcist_. The boy's skin was deathly pale, his mop of brown hair was greasy and tangled. His eyes were dark and deep; undecipherable. But he seemed to look straight through her.

"Who are you?"

What? Abby thought. _Did he speak? To me?_

"I..." she stuttered. She could have sworn Dr. Taylor had said the boy never acknowledged another's presence unless he was viciously tearing them to pieces with censored words and descriptions. "My name is Abby. I'm a nurse here."

The boy seemed to frown. "Nurse? I'm in a hospital?" he gasped. "Oh God, what happened? Are my friends here? Oh God, my head!" The boy moaned and closed his eyes, the blue veins sticking out prominently on his eyelids.

Abby took a deep breath and bit her lip, trying to contain her excitement. He was responding to treatment! This was excellent! And he said he had friends! She wanted to jump right into it, but decided to wait. She swallowed her joy and put on a neutral face. "You are in Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital. You were found wandering by the city zoo, agitating the animals, and were dragged kicking and screaming into this hospital, muttering nonsense. You are now in the isolation unit because you haven't responded well to social interaction. I've been told that psychiatrists who've come to speak to you have been scared away. Is this true?"

The boy looked confused. "You speak as though I've been here a long time..." he said. "I couldn't have been here more than... a day at most, depending how long you knocked me out for."

Abby laughed at his sense of time. "That's probably just a side effect of your illness, sweetie. You've been here six months, from what I've been told, terrifying doctors and administration alike with your raging nightmares."

The boy's eyes widened in fear and he shivered, his face looking more pale than before, if that were possible. "S-six months? Oh God..." he said, running a hand through his hair. He stopped short. He pulled his hand back in front of his face and looked at it in disgusted awe, as if it were covered in blood. His fear seemed to heighten. "Get me a mirror!" he shrieked in a high, panic-stricken voice.

So jolted by the demand, Abby gave a small yelp as she looked around the room. "I can't..."

"Just get me a mirror, dammit!" the kid shouted.

"OK!" said Abby, unsure of what else to say. She ran out of the room and to the doctors' lounge where her purse resided in her locker. She sifted through it a moment before she found a compact mirror. Sighing with relief, the petite brunette ran swiftly back to room 297.

There, the boy looked so gaunt, she would have sworn he was dead had he not been staring at her with anxious eyes. Her hand shaking (though she didn't know why), she handed the boy the mirror, counting every blue vein that popped out on his white skin.

Trembling, the boy opened the compact, looked in the mirror, and screamed.

The whole hospital heard his anguish.

The staff paused in their work a moment, then continued when the scream did not relent. It was like rain to them. Periodic and repetitive. They were unmoved.

"Whoa, calm down!" said Abby. "Relax."

The boy seemed to be hyperventilating.

"RELAX!"

He jumped at Abby's order and looked at her in surprise, as if she were the last person he'd expected to do that. She smiled, sheepishly.

"I may be small, but I have a big voice," she said. "Now, can you tell me your name so we can locate your parents?"

The boy was still shaken, but he nodded. "Ra... Ra..."

"Ray?" Abby offered. The boy could only nod, unsure of what else to do. His eyes were closed tight to hold back the tears.

"I never knew a mind could be so cold..." he sobbed.

Abby didn't know what to do. So she tried to keep detached. "Ray, can you tell me your last name, or your parents' names so that we can contact them and let them know you're alright?"

"No," said Ray, fighting the tears. He stood resolute and looked at Abby stoically. "No." He was firm. "I have no parents. But you can do me a... a favor..." Something was fighting his thoughts... like something was poking the back of his mind. An incessant annoyance, constantly prodding him. Like Chinese Water Torture.

"Yes...?" Abby prompted.

Ray tried hard to keep hold of his train of thought. Already he was beginning to be confused. "Tell... tell my friends..."

"Tell your friends...?"

"I..." Ray closed his eyes tight, as if fighting some unseen demon. He shook his head to clear it. "Tell them I love them," he said. He'd meant to say something else as well, but he couldn't quite recall... that annoying thing poking his mind...

"I'll be sure to do that," said Abby. "Could you tell me who your friends are?"

"T... Teen..."

"Teenagers?" said Abby with a raise of the eyebrow. "Are you in a gang, Ray? Did they hurt you?"

"No!" said Ray, adamantly. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "No," he repeated. "My friends... They're the T-Teen Titans."

Abby raised her head, her mouth slightly agape as she nodded slowly. "Uh huh..." she said, contributing this statement to the boy's delusions. "Sure, Ray, I'll be sure to tell them."

"It's important," Ray said, his eyes piercing. "You must... have them see me. Right away. Tell them I'm here."

Abby smiled. "Well, Ray, the Teen Titans have a very demanding schedule, I can't be sure that they'll–"

"You _have_ to get them here!" said Ray, panic-stricken. "It's a matter of life and death!"

"OK, OK, I'll try," said Abby, trying to remind herself that the boy was deranged. She bit her lip and looked towards the door, then back to Ray. "Listen, Ray, I'm going to get your doctor, alright? His name is Dr. Taylor. He's a very nice man. He'll know what to do with you."

Ray could only nod, fighting the demons that plagued his mind and memory. What were these shadows that stretched over his consciousness, constantly changing as though controlled by a dark wind with a cruel purpose? He couldn't grasp a single thought long enough; it too quickly dissipated into thin air like mist by a waterfall.

As Abby left, he took a deep breath and tried to sort out his thoughts.

Raven, he thought. _I am Raven. Raven._

It was as though she had to keep reminding herself of the simple piece of information. She was Raven, of the Teen Titans. Ray was a pseudonym. They already thought she was crazy. It was best not to enforce it...

But _why_ was she _here_?

She cried at the effort it took to search for an answer. The claws of devils scratched at her mental wall, anxious to be released, like dogs barking at the door. But where did these shadows come from?

Struggling, she finally managed to retreat into her mind, her body relaxing.

It was a charred ruin of a psyche. The landscape was indiscernible. But it was not her mind. It couldn't be...

But wait. There was her pattern of meditation rocks floating serenely by the doorway to her emotions. This was her mind. How had it become so distorted?

Larkin.

The name was too familiar. Somehow, he must have found a way to switch their essences. If she was in Larkin's host body, then that meant...

It was easier to sort through her thoughts when she was literally absorbed in them. Though pieces of her mind were falling down around her, she still found clarity floating on her meditation rocks. If she was going to solve this, she had to do it internally.

She looked around at the destruction. How had he managed to damage her mind so?

As she had told Starfire, the mind and body were cosmically linked, like two perfectly fitting puzzle pieces. Somehow, Larkin had found a way to link his mental deterioration to his physical being, probably by channeling all his pain physically. Which explained the scars on his arms... With each scar, he had focused on one part of his mind, linking his mental issues to his body. Closing her eyes, she could see her arms. That scar by her wrist was for the memory blanks... and the scar below it for the damage to his extrasensory perception. That one was the deepest. By doing this, he had made sure that when he left his body, he would leave behind his mental injuries as physical. The scars would act as an anchor, storing the pain until it built up so much it would release its vengeance on any mind that came to the body, whether or not it was the one who had caused the scars.

Complex, but plausible. The scars were the root of Raven's sudden madness.

Repairing the damage was out of the question. The damage was too intense. Raven gasped as a tower of her personality collapsed and knocked over a childhood memory... For a moment, she was frozen, devoid of thought, trying to recall what she was there for. _And where was she?_

My mind! her mental voice shrieked in reply. _This is my head! I have to stop this before it goes to far!_

As she calmed down and ordered herself to focus, she caught a glimpse of her emotions through the portal near the meditation stones. They were clamoring in confusion, Anger, Sorrow, Fear and Regret fighting to be free and flee from their deteriorating home. Raven fought to control them. Not now, she had to concentrate. She would deal with each in turn later.

Examining the rate of destruction, she noted that Larkin had to have been floating outside his body for a while for the mental pain to have built up in his scars so much. If she was not out of this body within twelve hours, give or take...

A part of her Dream Center went up in flames, letting smoke bats and cotton candy bunnies fly away off into oblivion.

Better make that ten hours, she thought.

Suddenly, as if it had just come to her, she remembered the dream she'd had before she'd awoken in Larkin's body. And his warning.

The clock sings eleven, I'll steal your breath.

Your lungs, your heart in your beating chest...

The clock sings eleven, I'll make you bleed.

Pain will be when it sings thirteen...

She last remembered speaking with Starfire about it on the roof when her clock had gone off...

11:00 AM.

The first line must have referred to the morning hour... he'd stolen her body. But the second couplet...

She recalled her dream, unwillingly at first. The encounter had been so devastating, she'd tried to suppress it. But with her Dream Center falling apart and the disarray of memories, even her suppressed nightmares were rising to the surface.

If she did not find a way out before 11:00 PM, she would have no mind left. She would be forever condemned to live in that Hell. Over and over and over again.

* * *

He walked through the park, taking in the colorful coming of death that was the fall. The scent of decaying leaves was particularly strong, mingling with the fresh aroma of the falling rain, washing away the dead things and the secrets they kept in their graves. Rivers of orange and red lined the gutters of the street, the brown sodden leaves blocking the drains. 

No one was around in the park in the rain, except for the random homeless man trying to shelter himself on a bench with a soaked piece of newspaper.

Larkin paused a moment in his meandering to observe this peculiarly futile behavior. The corner of his new mouth twitched into a strange smile. He stretched his fingers, looking down at them, impressed with the strength he could feel resonating from his protege's body. It invigorated his mind, healing it of scars of the past. He had not been in such a healthy body in a long time. And it was like being reborn. Such physical refreshing strength... young and vibrant, full of potential, full of life...

And, of course, her wonderful Talents were now hidden in the back of his mind, waiting to be unleashed.

Larkin's smile broadened at the poetic justice. The trade had been more than fair. The damage she had so coldly inflicted on his mind for the power that lay in hers. The mind and body had so many intertwining spider webs of energy linking them together, it was easy to snip a few and keep a few others intact. Raven's powers, generally part of her mental self, was bonded particularly closely to her physical self, which left stealing them quite easy. Getting rid of the rest of her had also been simple. In her sleep, when her mind was open to anything, he'd snuck in, subconsciously prodding her mind, telling her to open it to him at 11:00 on this particular day... a day of conquest. And what a wonderful conquest indeed.

Larkin had always dreamed of having the power of Azarath in his hands... Although he had originally intended it to be not so literal. His plans for using Raven as a pawn had been so perfect that had she not gone exploring his mind that one day, she would have been his at this moment, working against the very team she'd tried so hard to keep together. But it was no matter now. Raven would soon be no more than a blabbering idiot, trapped in her own mind and a head that wasn't hers. And her friends...

Larkin laughed out loud. Yes, Raven's friends. Would they suspect the change? He hadn't really intended on killing them, although he had told his former student that in order to alarm her. But in truth, Larkin was a strategist, not a murderer, and he sought for the solution that was in his best interest. Robin and the others were fit, young soldiers of justice. Well, the justice part would soon change. All that was needed was a little altering in personality, easily done by a man with Larkin's talents. A psychic liposuction. First, of course, their wonderful leader... They will follow him. And if they don't, a similar fate awaited them.

It was all too easy.

Perhaps... Larkin laughed at the thought. _Perhaps they will even grow to love me._ He bit his lip as he considered his reaction to such reckless decisions of emotion. _And perhaps, I should love them back._ It had been a long time since Larkin had truly loved anyone.

Raven, at one point, had actually been the recipient of this distorted emotion.

He smiled at the thought of it. He remembered clearly when the poor shuddering child had appeared on his door step...

It was a few hours after sunset. Larkin's apartment was finely furnished with modern art adorning his walls and yellow and black furniture, situated above a busy street in Piccadilly. He was preparing dinner for his son, Jordan, who had just recently come to stay with him. His mother had finally died in a car wreck a few weeks earlier, and the boy refused to speak. Larkin was watching the closed door to his son's room, contemplating what to do with him, when he'd heard a crash in the hall.

Frowning, he went to the door and noticed a neighbor screaming at a young girl, shivering from his wrath.

"Don't you know your sort aren't wanted here?" snapped his neighbor. "That was a new telly!"

"I... I don't know what you mean, I didn't do it!" the girl said with an American accent, her voice a quiet wisp. "I couldn't have, I was out here..."

"Oh yes you did!" the neighbor growled fiercely. "We've seen your sort up here before, that crazy Larkin fellow sees 'em all the time. You're another mutant freak from the experiment labs. You and your sort–"

"We have another one here, Bill, I see," said Larkin's other neighbor, a woman in her mid-thirties in a black cocktail dress holding a champagne glass. "Listen here, lass, I have a friend over, alright? He's not very impressed when microwaves and every other appliance suddenly decide to glow black and blow up, you hear? So why don't you run on back to where you came from, and leave the rest to me, alright?"

"But ma'am..." the girl stuttered, her voice deathly pale. The lights flickered and she shrieked with fright, closing her eyes tight to try and stop it.

"You see? There she goes again!" said Bill.

"I've seen enough!" Larkin declared, stepping out of his house.

All fell silent at the sight of him. Regal and proud, he stood like a king, illuminating the hall. His gray hair was gelled back, but he was far from old. Though it sported a few lines, his face was strong and wise, his stance reinforcing his majesty. His build was powerful, with toned but worn muscles. A scar decorated his left cheek.

Finally, the woman found her voice. "Larkin, we've had enough of the riffraff you attract. I'm telling the landlord the minute the phone _she _broke is fixed that we want you out!"

"You tell him that, Caroline," Larkin said, sarcastically. "Ask him if he wants to lose half of his monthly income by kicking me out. No one else will pay the price I do for this apartment." Larkin's countenance softened as he turned to the girl hugging her knees in the hall, on the verge of tears. He kneeled down next to her and spoke in a soft voice.

"My child," he whispered. "Come now, don't cry. You must realize by now that these things are triggered by your emotions. Fear, anxiety and sorrow can bring about some pretty powerful Talent."

"T-talent?" the girl stuttered. She frowned. "Not in this world."

"Talent, yes," the man said, nodding. He offered his hand. "Now, my child, come with me. I don't have much, but what I do have will suit you. My name is Charles Larkin."

"I know," said the girl. "I've heard your name many times where I am from. I have come in search of you."

"They always do," said Larkin with a warm smile, adding a soft sparkle to his gray eyes. "What is your name?"

"R-Raven," the girl replied with an innocent smile. Larkin nodded, his eyes warm and inviting.

"Raven, my songbird," he cooed. "Come now, my child. Let us escape from these prejudice and jealous eyes." He cast an accusing glance at his neighbors who scoffed and returned to their apartments.

The girl nodded eagerly and took his hand. Her hand was small and pale... She couldn't be more than ten years old. And she had come to seek him out. She would be the youngest of his followers. And yet– and he felt it as he took her hand– she was powerful beyond belief.

When in the comfort of his living room, she relaxed and opened up to him like a book of spells waiting to be read... and used.

Her name was Raven of Azarath, part demon, part human, with powers beyond her understanding and control. Her father was one Trigon, a man Larkin had heard much of and indeed, almost admired, in his study of Azarath. He nodded, fascinated, not letting on that he'd ever heard of her father. She was angry and passionate, young and full of emotions that needed to be locked away if she wanted to keep her powers in check. This would be done in time.

From there, he proceeded in helping her understand her powers and control her wild emotions. Because she was a vivacious child, passionate about everything, this latter lesson was hard learned.

"Raven," said Larkin to her one day. "You have to learn to stop feeling."

Raven looked startled. "How can you do that?" she gasped. "I don't want to be a zombie without emotion..."

"It will not take away from your personality," Larkin promised. "I have seen into your Emotional Portal. They are disarrayed and mingled, melding with every part of you, and therefore evident in everything you do. You are, by nature, an emotional person. What you need to do is learn to separate your emotions internally, and then close that portal so none will escape."

"But..." Raven began to protest, looking horrified.

"Do not question me," Larkin ordered. "You will do it, or I shall do it for you!"

"But... why?"

"Do you not wish to control your powers?" Larkin asked. Raven nodded. "Good. Because Raven, in this world, your powers are a menace. They have been put in the hands of a child who is not ready for them. Right now, you are young, your powers undeveloped. But by the time you are a teenager, they will be stronger than napalm, burning everything it can, your emotions as its fuel. Eventually, you could singlehandedly destroy the world."

Raven's tiny mouth was in a tiny 'O' by the end of Larkin's little speech.

"Why would anyone want this burden?" she gasped.

"To destroy," said Larkin. "It is the nature with you and your people. With your father."

"My father..." Raven's eyes narrowed angrily, and the room for a moment glowed as black as night, threatening to explode. Her eyes glowed red and Larkin jumped up and backed away.

"Raven!" he commanded, before she got too far. "Raven, _control_ yourself!"

Suddenly brought back to her senses, the ten-year-old dropped her demonic face, breathing hard. "I'm... so... sorry, Larkin!" she breathed, choking back a sob.

"You see?" Larkin hissed angrily. She nodded.

"But I can't do it. You do it for me. I can't close off my emotions."

Larkin nodded, understanding. She was too weak.

Tenderly, he put a hand on her shoulder, needing physical contact to enter her Emotional Portal.

And so began his molding of an assassin.

Afterwards, Raven was eager only to learn more, devouring the power Larkin fed her like candy. She was no longer excited or furious by revenge. At least, not outwardly. Her talkative self disappeared and was replaced with a taciturn, gaunt ghost that floated about Larkin's apartment like a waif, absorbing his teachings.

To keep her emotions in check, and to remain healthy, she needed daily meditation in which she visited each emotion in turn, making sure they were released in a quiet, harmless way– mainly talking with them. She also used this meditation period as a time to hone her senses, working harder by the day. Each day, she would do battle with Larkin and his followers on a neutral mental plane. It was forbidden to enter another follower's mind. But Larkin and Raven were close enough that they were constantly in each other's heads. It was an intimacy Larkin refused to share with his other followers.

And eventually, it was a mistake that led to his own destruction.

Larkin had loved the child more than his own son. And yet, he had never intended on helping her. Raven had discovered that he'd wished to use her for his own devices, however she never learned the reason. Challenging Trigon on her own, no matter how powerful, would have destroyed her. And Larkin hadn't been ready to lose her. To Trigon or anyone else. Overprotective, he'd always intervened when a mental battle became too heated.

However, he did often wonder what a battle between the father and daughter would be like... Was there any possibility of Raven defeating this beast? If so, Larkin would never allow it. Trigon was a god in the demon world. He had done so many admirable things– admirable by demonic standards, at least. Larkin was continuously awed by his cunning and mental strength. His daughter had inherited the latter... but whether or not the former resided in her waited to be seen. She was a bright child, but she was naive.

No, a battle between Trigon and Raven must never take place. To lose either of them would be a terrible tragedy.

Raven, to him, was a prized possession. She was his best weapon against his enemies, and she would protect him from harm with her incredible abilities borne of Azarath demons. She would learn to listen to his every word without question, and eventually her morality would fall away and she would become like him and take his philosophies: No one else matters but yourself. At least, this is what Larkin had hoped would happen by sharing his mind with her. Unfortunately, it hadn't turned out that way.

She found out.

She learned that he wished to change her, to shape her into an invincible soldier to use to achieve his own means. Whether he loved her or not meant nothing to her.

And in a display of pure treason, the fatal blow to his heart, she banished him to the head of his own son.

Jordan had been an interesting case. An experiment gone horribly wrong, he had worked in developing Jordan's mind parallel with his work with Raven. Though the boy was a few years younger, Larkin pressed him to try harder, believing he could reach Raven's potential.

But a human's mind can only take so much, he learned.

Larkin was one of the rare humans born with the mental capacity of a demon and therefore, developed the lust for power of a demon, and a demon's morals.

Somewhat ironic that in most ways, he was more demonic than his half-demon protege. Although, Raven outshone him in demonic cruelty when she banished him with a cruel punishment. Since, his love for her had dissolved into indifference and he'd plotted his revenge. At first, he'd hoped to spare her life, and merely turn her friends against her. But now, she had crossed a fine line between indifference and hate. This time, she had banished him to a life of Hell. And she would pay dearly.

Smiling at the thought of his child, his Raven, his songbird, he continued on his stroll through the park, absorbing the crisp air any way possible.

It was so good to be free again...

"There you are."

The man in Raven's body froze at the voice. Taking a deep breath, he turned, looking impassive.

"You followed me," Raven said to the Titan before her.

"You have startled us," replied the red-head. "I was concerned for your well-being. You are acting peculiar."

Raven smiled. "What's peculiar about me, Starfire?"

The alien nodded at Raven's expression, her own face blank. "That," she said. Raven's smile disappeared instantly. "Why are you so... joyful? I am happy for your positiveness, my friend, however I do not comprehend... what has caused this change in you? I feel strange about you... like I should either embrace you with love or run away from you shrieking as though pursued by a Snarkhap. Who is this person you have become?"

As his amusement heightened, Larkin could feel Raven's powers resonating in the back of his head, reacting to his emotions, waiting to be freed. Having years of experience, he calmed them with minimal effort. He reached out a tentative probe to her oblivious mind, curling around it like a cat, finding her triggers that would make her more comfortable, more susceptible to suggestion and coerceon. Her tense posture relaxed, and she frowned, as if she forgot what she had been so concerned about. Larkin smiled in triumph.

"Starfire," he said soothingly with Raven's voice, warmly. "I have a home. I have a family. I have a purpose. Why shouldn't I be happy?"

But the girl was unsatisfied. She tilted her head and looked curiously at her friend. "But this is unlike you..."

"It is," said Raven, slightly irritated that she was still asking questions after his probing. _It must be her alien mind, damn thing. Still as easy to manipulate as a human, none the less._ He decided to use more words to convince her. The probe would calm her soon enough. "I've decided to turn over a new leaf. I was meditating one day when it hit me. I don't tell you all often enough how much I really need you. Thank you, for being there for me, by my side. And you. Starfire, you are the epitome of friendship. When Larkin came and tried to destroy Robin's mind, you trusted me. Thank you."

Starfire blushed, modestly. "Y-you are my good friend, Raven," she said, her voice as tiny as a mouse. "I would always trust you."

Raven grinned what seemed to Starfire quite a wicked grin indeed. "And that, beautiful Starfire, is why I love you all so much."


	3. 1:00: Hail Storm

**_Author's Note:_** I, um, have nothing to say. Except, in response to the question of how often I update, I try to do it every few days, two-four times weekly, probably. Unless I'm stuck (which I am-- in the middle of chapter six right now and toying with a bunch of ideas). Hopefully, I'll be over that rut before I have to post that chapter. But just a warning: Unless I say otherwise, there might be a delay for chapter six.

Onward ho (with the story, that is)

* * *

Chapter 3: 1:00: Hail Storm

1:00

"Your name is Ray?" The doctor's eyebrow raised curiously, his blue eyes intent behind his glasses.

"Yes," the boy nodded, firmly.

"Do you have a last name, Ray?" the doctor asked. Ray examined his face. It was leathery and worn, and yet his eyes still had a sparkle of youth to them. As if he'd grown old in a short amount of time. There was a gray streak in his dull black hair, like smoke against smudged charcoal.

Ray paused before answering his question. "No..." he said slowly. It took a lot of effort to try and control his mind from outside of it. Inside it, Raven could feel it crumbling down piece by piece. It often made her character seem spacey and inconstant. But it was so hard. She had to get out of here.

The doctor made a few notes on his notepad, then looked up at the boy with his ice blue eyes. "Do you know where you're from?"

Ray paused again. He bit his lip. Concentrating was so hard... It needed to be said now, or nothing would ever come of it. "I need... Dr. Taylor, listen closely, this is very important."

Dr. Taylor nodded and leaned in closer, his eyes betraying intrigue in spite of himself. _Remain detached._ That was the rule of Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital. But this was the first time the boy had spoken coherently since he had arrived. And he was peaceable. Some change had occurred in him. And now, he had something important to say.

"Something very wrong has happened to me and my friends," said Ray slowly, as if the words were hard to grasp.

"There are others with your problems?" the doctor was alarmed, but the boy shook his head.

"There are others..." he said. "Not like me. But being affected by things I have done. They are in danger because of me."

"Tell me what's happened and I'll inform the police immediately," said Taylor. He wasn't sure if he would do this or not. It all depended on how believable the boy's claims were. He was, after all, in the care of a mental hospital. But it was best to keep the patient's trust.

"The Teen Titans," said Ray. "It's very important I speak with them."

Taylor tried hard not to scoff. "And... why do you wish to speak with the Teen Titans?" he asked. _He's probably trying to resolve an inner conflict he's unwilling to face by acting out an old dream of meeting the super hero team_, Taylor thought.

"I know you think what does a... a kid..." Ray closed his eyes, as if trying to stop himself from crying. But when they opened again, they were dry. "What does a kid have to do with the Teen Titans? I'm a friend of theirs. Really, I am." _Delusions of grandeur,_ thought Taylor. "And they'll know me when you tell them. But..." Ray paused again and seemed to try to collect himself. "You must let me do the talking. Please. This is a matter of life and death."

Smiling, Taylor made another note in his little book and it infuriated his patient.

"Do not mock me, Dr. Taylor," he hissed, his eyes glowing unusually red. Taylor jumped up and dropped his pad and paper.

"What the hell was that!" he cried. Ray seemed to calm down as a sharp pain stabbed at his mind.

"Please!" he begged, now desperate. "I swear to God, I'm not crazy. Something awful has happened. You _need_ to get the Titans here _now_!"

Frustration engulfed Raven at that moment. She wanted to scream at the world, or perhaps destroy it. But she was powerless. Weak, powerless... and alone.

"OK..." said Taylor, backing slowly to the door. "I... I'll call them." _And I really will,_ he thought.

Raven sighed and leaned back in her bed as Taylor retreated. She closed her eyes and fled into the depths of her mind again.

She looked around at the destruction. Her emotions were nearly set loose. She would release them later. Now, she had to keep her mind from falling apart.

Without her supernatural powers, it would be much more difficult. Her powers, linked both to body and mind, had somehow remained with her body. But with much concentration and focus, she could keep her mind standing just long enough to have a coherent conversation with her friends.

Using every ounce of strength left in her, she constructed a mental force field, a mind skeleton. She erected it right next to her outer mind wall, keeping it from collapsing in on itself. She focused on her dead and decaying memories. She would need them to convince the Titans of who she really was. If she forgot herself... there was no hope for her. Indeed, her memories were the most precious thing her mind contained. They must be preserved.

Focusing harder, she created a shield which absorbed her memory center. Walking between the pillars of memory from this year and that of her life, she tried hard to hold each steady, locking them in place. She connected each to a part of the shield surrounding it. Sighing from the effort, she stepped back to admire her work.

Each pillar was relatively secure, wavering every now and then especially as the ground quaked beneath her. Yes, they would hold, but it was only a temporary solution. She needed to get out of there.

She flew to the outskirts of consciousness and examined the barrier between conscious and the many levels of subconsciousness. There were holes in the wall that needed mending. It trembled before her, the holes making it weaker. Quickly, Raven did some mental sewing and patched them like a quilt. This would help her keep a train of thought in concentration. Again, it was temporary. She felt this would only last a few hours before her mind could take no more and the supports would crumble and she would fall...

Maybe it would last until 11:00...

* * *

Ring.

"Man, I gotchyou now!" Cyborg cried as his car squealed against the pavement and he knocked Beast Boy's over.

Ring.

"Oh no you don't!" Beast Boy shrieked, standing up as he caught up to Cyborg's vehicle rounding the next bend.

Ring, Ring.

"Someone'd better get that," said Cyborg.

"Uh huh," said Beast Boy.

Both remained entranced by the screen.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

"Where the hell are Rob and Star?" Cyborg demanded. "That ringing's getting hella annoying."

"Then go answer it," said Beast Boy. "Haha! Passed ya!"

Ring, Ring.

"Dude that's not cool!" Cyborg cried.

"Yo, hold up man," said Beast Boy, as he crossed the finish line. Sighing, he reached over and picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Beast Boy?" came the voice of a young boy.

"The one and only," said Beast Boy with a grin. He looked over to Cyborg, who was frowning annoyed at the stats on the screen.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to hear your voice."

The green Titan frowned. "Who is this? Do I know you?"

"It's Raven."

"Raven's not here, kid." He looked towards Cyborg who went to turn off the machine. "Yo, Cy! No cheating! Save my stats!"

"No, Beast Boy," said the boy on the phone, sounding irked. "_I'm _Raven."

"I told you kid, Raven's out. Even if she wasn't, I don't think she's big on the kids that try and act like her. Get a better role model. What the hell is that look for, Cy???"

Cyborg was staring dumbstruck at the screen as if just seeing something.

"You little worm!" he screamed, pointing frantically at it. "You beat me with a damn handicap!"

"Beast Boy!" came the call of the kid on the other end.

"Listen, kid, I'm sorry, but we don't take fan calls. How'd you get this number, we're unlisted!"

"I'm at a hospital!" said the boy.

"So...?" said Beast Boy. He looked over at Cyborg, who looked murderous. "Listen, kid, I gotta go..."

"The coo-coo clock you gave me for my birthday drove me nuts so I threw it at you, right?" said the boy quickly. Beast Boy paused and frowned.

"Did they write about that in the paper?" he asked.

"Six months ago, a man named Charles Larkin tried to kill you by possessing my body," said the boy.

Beast Boy looked up at Cyborg. "Hey Cy, did the press know about the whole Larkin thing a few months ago?"

"No," the boy on the phone said quickly. "Because I refused to let it out. But I regret that now."

"Rae, how'd you put on that weird voice? You sound like such a kid! It's kinda funny, actually!" Beast Boy laughed. His laugh halted. "Wait, you're at a hospital? What happened?"

But at that very moment, Raven and Starfire walked through the door and Beast Boy frowned. He pointed at Raven.

"Wait, how are you here, you're on the phone?"

"What?" said the boy on the phone, his voice quivering. The Raven before them looked calm.

"Put the phone down, Beast Boy," she said simply.

"Oh God..." said the voice on the phone. Beast Boy's frown deepened.

"Hey kid, nice prank you pulled," he said into the phone. "You really had me going for a minute."

"No, Beast Boy, please!" the voice begged. "That's not me!"

"Sure," said Beast Boy. "And I'm Superman's cousin."

"Beast Boy, I'm at Sun Oak's Psychiatric Hospital in–"

"Oh!" Beast Boy exclaimed, as if just understanding. "Wow, OK, that makes sense. You really think you're Raven don't you, kid? Wow, that's kind of sad... Get a hobby."

"Beast Boy, please, don't hang up–"

"Bye kid," said Beast Boy with a grin, hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" asked Cyborg, looking from Beast Boy to Raven.

"Kid," Beast Boy replied. "Thought he was Raven. He actually convinced me a second. Had some pretty good details."

"He's called me before," said Raven. "It's kinda weird. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Beast Boy."

"How'd he get our number?" said Beast Boy. "Do you think he stole it from hospital records?"

"It's very possible," said Raven. "Next time he calls, just hang up. You know what he sounds like now."

"Will do!" said Beast Boy, though silently he contemplated having a little fun with the Raven imposter.

"If you excuse me, I'm going to my room to meditate." And she grinned at them again, an expression which acted like poison to its victims; Beast Boy lost his cheery disposition; Cyborg dropped the video game he'd been holding; Starfire stumbled backwards.

Raven seemed to ignore any peculiar reactions to her peculiar expression as she glided out of the room, seeming to resonate with some strange, powerful force.

"She did it again!" Cyborg cried, looking agitated. "That crazy macabre twisting of her lips into a distorted evil mutation!"

"You mean a smile, Cyborg," Beast Boy said chuckling.

Cyborg ignored him. "Dammit, doesn't she know what that can do to a person?"

But Starfire was smiling. "I am glad to see Friend Raven has lost her dreary pessimism. This is no great tragedy. It is time for celebration! Perhaps now she shall participate in our amusing pastimes and express mirth at our witty jests."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at Starfire. "I've figured it out. She sounds like Shakespeare."

Starfire blinked at him blankly a moment, then seemed to dismiss the confusing comment. "Where is Robin?" Starfire asked.

"He's been locked in that dank, stuffy room of his all day. Maybe he suffocated," Cyborg said.

"I shall go see what has troubled him so..." Starfire muttered, making her way to the stairs.

As she left, Cyborg turned to Beast Boy.

"You really think she sounds like Shakespeare?" he said skeptically.

* * *

Tears. Warm and wet, they slipped down her face. It had been years since she'd felt the sensation. Somehow, they were comforting... and strangely soggy. She laughed, wondering what her friends would say to see her like this. 

It had been a long time since she could cry without worrying about the side effects.

It had all started when she'd hit puberty. Her powers, dulled by the incapable passion of a child, had hit her full force. A boy had pushed her down at school, calling her Morticia Adams. She'd scraped her elbow, and the burn had shot through her arm and straight to her heart. She'd narrowed her eyes and cursed at him...

When his body was torn in five different directions.

Everyone else had screamed and scattered.

But young Raven had stood, staring at the place the boy had just been, standing over her like a tyrannical monarch.

And then, He_ began to haunt her._

Hell, how he haunted her.

Nightmares and waking trances of Hell, calling to her to join him in her destiny. Queen of the Damned. No. No, this was wrong. She was no demon. She never would be.

And she ran.

Constantly, memories she had suppressed to the back of her mind were rising to the surface. She tried hard to bite them back. To strengthen her mental barrier, she had linked her memories to it, causing her memories to continuously brush against her consciousness as they swirled around in their pillars.

She needed to contact her friends.

The phone call to Beast Boy had been futile. She needed to see them herself. But what would they do? What would they say? Would Larkin turn them against her?

She scowled at his manipulative Talent. All it would take was to sneak in through the back door of their minds and tweak their perceptions a little.

Two could play that game.

But the thought of entering her friends' minds disturbed her. And the thought of doing it to change them seemed sick and perverted. An unspoken taboo, the thought was an abominable violation to her and made her gag to think of it. It was like raping the mind.

No matter what, Raven would not resort to forcing entry to her friends' minds. She was not as twisted as Larkin. However, having been inside _his_ head so often, she had no qualms about bashing against his mind wall in order to enter. And after all he'd done to her...

She tried to force the memory back before it revealed itself. She remembered Jordan's gaunt form, floating like a zombie around the apartment. She remembered Larkin's consistent promises that she would destroy Trigon one day. She remembered his maniacal laughter when she had discovered his true intentions. He never cared. And she had loved him so...

She let out a small sob which quickly turned into a howl. She fell to her knees and screamed at the ceiling, letting out years of pent up anguish and rage. She was going to destroy him. With her last ounce of breath, she would make sure he would never know what it felt like to be loved.

As her mind fell apart, she clung to one desperate hope. She needed to save her friends. And in return, they would save her soul.

They had to. They loved her.

And she...

She loved them.

* * *

The room was dark. She hadn't bothered to knock. 

She looked at the dim light coming from the corner and could make out the arch of his back in the shadows of a revelation.

"Robin?"

He made no move to show that he had heard her. Cautiously, she crept across the threshold and tried to avoid the bits of news articles that littered the floor as she made her way to him. She was inches away from him when she caught what he was analyzing.

Clippings of the _London Times _from years ago, along with scattered dark colored books that looked eerie and foreboding.

"What consumes you, my friend?"

Robin jumped at Starfire's voice and looked up. "What are you doing in here?" he snapped, angrily. "Don't you knock?"

"I called your name and you did not reply. I thought perhaps you were sleeping."

"Right," Robin laughed and looked at his watch. "Me, falling asleep. And at, what, 1:45 in the afternoon? You should know by now, Star, I'm quite the insomniac. Especially... recently..."

Starfire frowned at his pensive tone, but he said nothing further, his finger underlining the words of the book he was reading. Giving up, he sighed, closed the book, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.

"Something's going on," he said. "It's why I can't sleep at night."

"What is this you are speaking of?" Starfire asked. "A strange intuition?"

Robin bit his lip, his brow furrowed. "It's more than that... Something's tugging at my mind... When Raven entered the room, I don't know about you, but it got so cold I started shivering."

Starfire blinked. "And this is new to you?"

Robin laughed. "Well yes, I'll admit, Raven can have that effect... but this time it was different. Something... wasn't right about her."

Starfire smiled, understanding. "This I have already discussed with her. She informs me that she is turning the leaf."

"Turning a new leaf, eh..." Robin muttered.

"Yes," Starfire said, nodding. "She said that she has all to be happy for."

"Oh, that's just it. Raven's always been happy," said Robin. At the confused look on Starfire's face, he continued. "Listen, Raven's never been particularly unhappy when she was with us. She just refused to express it as often as, well, say, you or Beast Boy."

"And this was done in order to contain her destructive powers," said Starfire, comprehending.

"So the fact that she said that confuses me."

"I understand," said Starfire. "Perhaps she has finally discovered a way to express her emotions without fear."

"Something tells me you're half-right..." said Robin. "Look, something's not right here. I just have that feeling. Ever since Raven sort of fell into my head those months ago, I've been rather intuitive when it comes to her. And now... it's just gone. And something cold has taken over, freezing my insight and... it burns me. Like a hailstorm. The only problem is, I don't know how a summer sky can hail. That's what I've been trying to figure out."

Robin gestured at the books scattered on his desk. Starfire picked one up and looked at the title. "Mind Links: Benefits and Disadvantages," she mumbled. She looked at a clipping from the _London Times_ that had been under the book...

Largest British Cult Ring Exposed: Ringleader Disappears.

"Charles Larkin was a very influential man in British society," Robin explained. "He was also the leader of a huge national cult concerned with ESP and the likes. Most people found it a load of bull. But I think there might have been something to it."

"Why are you researching this man?" Starfire asked.

Robin sighed, his shoulders slumped. "I don't know," he said. "That intuition I was telling you about? It just screams _snake_."

* * *

"Abby?" 

The nurse jumped at the timid voice. She looked down and her eyes widened to see a pale ten-year-old boy staring up at her with broken brown eyes.

"Ray!" she cried. "You're not supposed to be out of your room!"

"You should really lock your doors," said Ray, inscrutably. "Especially to the rooms where you keep unstable patients."

"Taylor's gonna kill me..." Abby muttered.

"He doesn't have to know," said Ray. "I need your help."

"What kind of help?" Abby was suspicious.

"I need you to take me to the Teen Titans."

Abby laughed. "Ray, sweetie, you know I can't do that."

"You can if I make you," said Ray. "And please don't make me do that."

Abby frowned. _This kid is creeping me out..._ "It's against hospital policy."

"I'm not a hospital patient," Ray replied.

Abby raised an eyebrow. "So we're playing games now?"

"You could say that," said Ray. He looked around. Biting his lip, he motioned her to follow him, then stepped into a nearby exam room, closing the door.

"Abby, I know you're a good person," said Ray, "and you wouldn't want anyone to get hurt could you prevent it. I'm giving you the chance to save not only my life, but the lives of my four best friends."

"There are five Titans," Abby pointed out.

"Not when I die there won't be." His face was straight and deadly serious. Abby didn't comprehend. Ray sighed and closed his eyes, looking old before his time, but still too young to know. "I... can't tell you the exact truth. Because you would never in a million years believe me. So please, Abby, I don't want to hurt you. Just trust me. If you don't, the Teen Titans could die."

Abby sighed and tried to look reassuring. "Ray. I know what you must be going through. The Teen Titans are fine. No one is going to die. What you're saying... it's a delusion. Something you've created in your head–"

"That's impossible," Ray said with a scoff. "It's not even my head."

"Ray, you're not making sense," said Abby, getting quickly annoyed. Ray sighed.

"You don't want to see me angry," said Ray. "Even without my powers, it's not a pretty sight. Ask Beast Boy."

"Ray, I don't know where you got the idea of knowing the Teen Titans, but–"

"_That's it!_" hissed the monster now before her, in the body of a child with glowing red eyes. Abby shrieked in surprised. "You refused to listen to me, so I'm showing you what will destroy my friends. My name is not Ray. Nor did that name ever belong to the body I now possess. Someone stole my body and now, I want it back. And dammit, Abby Clarke, you're going to help me or so help me God, I'll kill everyone myself."

Abby was pale and flat against the wall. The thing before her seemed to calm down. Its eyes returned to normal and it was a little boy again, taking a deep breath and smiling at her.

"Sorry you had to see that," he said. "Don't say I didn't warn you. _Now_ will you take me to the Titans?"

Abby merely nodded, dumbstruck.

I need to get a new job, she thought.


	4. 2:00: Birds of a Feather

**_Author's Note:_** OK. (_To Amanda H_) Yes, I know Larkin's history avec Raven is a little... AU-ish. So sue me. I know all about Trigon, and that he raped her mother and all that jazz. Thanks for the _name_ of the mother, though, quite helpful... I'm actually going to use that information in the future. Also, I'm glad to see a sharp mind questioning my writing. Keep up the shrewdness, dudeness.

And, (_to Typewriter_) haha, thanks for the thingie on Raven, and yes, I do agree. I will not try and pretend that I can write Raven exactly in character all the time. She doesn't make long speeches, merely comments, nor does she confide in anyone really and I tried to acknowledge that... the reason she decided to talk to Starfire was because of Starfire's steadfast loyalty in the previous story. Although, granted, this alone might not be enough to have her bear her soul to Starfire, but it's a start. And she had come to the roof in the first place to sort out her dreams. Though she'd rather do it alone, Starfire's there, so what the hell? Anyways, I still agree. There are often times in this story that I myself don't like the dialogue, or the way Raven sounds when she speaks...

Might I warn you all that, coming up, Raven will seem less like her normal, "hides her emotions" self. Thing is, taking away the whole part of her personality that forced her to hide them in the first place (namely her powers), I found no real reason for her to be so secretive of them other than pride. Which is why she never really _expresses_ her emotions aloud (that is, when another person is present) beyond a simple tear or smile (or perhaps a scream of anger, which would be quite appropriate for Raven's pride IMO). Please understand that most of my REAL emotional-ness occurs INTERNALLY more than it does externally. Also, I keep repeating, her powers are GONE and therefor, I was having her test her emotional waters with minimal fear of repercussions... they can no longer physically harm anyone. Just thought I'd explain that before someone pointed out that it was OOC.

Honestly, I forget what's in this chapter, but if I'm right, there's more weird stuff in Raven's head having to do with more childhood memories. Again, this may not go with Rae's actual past in the comics/show, however for my own purposes, I decided to use it. And if it's not in this chapter (as I think it is) then it will definitely be in the next one.

* * *

Chapter 4: 2:00: Birds of a Feather...

Larkin looked out of the window in Raven's room and into the seas below. They were churning from the storm. Something wasn't right. He could feel the warning tugging at the edges of his psyche like a child vying for a parent's attention.

She was coming.

Larkin smiled. It was no matter. He would be ready for her. All he needed was that alien girl on his side. She was what saw through his plan last time. But she had trusted Raven's body when she denied the charges, despite what her other friends had claimed. Should Larkin act in a similar way, would Starfire take his side... or Raven's?

Now was the time to secure his alliance. His smile turned into a grin.

He entered the livingroom where he could find two Titans lying as usual on the couch playing video games. _How conveniently reliable of them, _Larkin thought with a grin. Perhaps modifying their personalities was unnecessary. Maybe he could mold their minds using simple verbal coercion saturated in exaggerated love. Hell, their minds were already numbed with hours on end of video games.

He approached them and was about to speak when he noticed the peculiarity of Beast Boy's position. Mouth agape, the top of his scalp rested on the floor while his knees rested comfortably on the back of the couch, his calves drooping over it. Glancing at Cyborg, Larkin noted that he was madly deep in concentration, as if trying to crack a government code that was enmeshed in the bright lights and harsh sounds which emanate from the TV.

Beast Boy grinned as his virtual car glided easily over the finish line, with Cyborg right behind him. "Told you I could beat you upside down."

Cyborg released a slew of obscenities, throwing his controller down on the floor. "You little monkey, you cheated!"

"Check my handicap. 0-0." Beast Boy's grin widened.

Behind them, Raven coughed. Both boys jumped, and Beast Boy, in his haste to get up, knocked his head on the coffee table.

"Hey, Rae," Cyborg said, not hiding his satisfaction at Beast Boy's injury. Raven smiled at them and they shivered agin.

"I've seen you play this racing game too often. I have got to tell you, I'm finally... intrigued enough to actually ask you... can I play?"

At first, she received two dumbstruck looks from her fellow Titans. But slowly, Beast Boy's grin returned, and Larkin noted that annoying singular tooth that protruded over his lip.

"Sure, why not?" he said, handing Raven the controller.

Larkin's initial intention had been to locate Starfire and win her trust, manipulating her mind further. But he figured the boys would work for now...

* * *

2:00

"Drive faster."

"I'm not breaking the speed limit, I don't care what you're possessed by."

Raven took a deep breath and tried to contain her frustration... when she realized she no longer had to. Grinning at the prospect, she snapped at the woman driving the car.

"Abby, I don't think you understand quite what's at stake here. My friends–"

"The Teen Titans?" Abby said, inscrutably, eyes on the road. Not sure if she was mocking her or not, Raven continued warily.

"Yes... They're in deep trouble. Deeper than I am. I may not have my real body, but I can deal with that. The worst part is, Larkin doesn't have his, which means he has mine. Which means, he has unlimited access to the Titan's personal mind space, _which_ means he can and will manipulate them by and to any means necessary. They'll go from teenage heros to the Top Five Most Wanted list in a week or less. But worse than that..."

"This just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?"

"_Worse_ than that," Raven snapped, angry at Abby's sarcasm, "is that after Larkin tools with them... they won't be themselves anymore. They'll be puppets, lobotomized zombies of human beings..." Raven's lips twitched. "And Tamaranians," she added as an afterthought. Her face grew solemn again. "But the point is... they'll be dead in every sense of the word. And when Larkin milks their minds for all they've got... Let's just say you'll have four new tenants at your hospital, Abby."

"Four?" Abby said.

"Of course," said Raven, as if it were obvious. "Larkin is in my body. I'm Raven."

"Right," said Abby, giving up on protesting. "So where will you go?"

Raven turned and looked out the window at the passing skyscrapers. She didn't reply.

Abby glanced at the little boy beside her out of the corner of her eye. "Ray?" she said. But he made no move to show he heard her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. _Why_ was she doing this? Whatever she'd seen in that exam room had scared the hell out of her. She didn't know if what Ray said was true or some avid delusion, or some sinister demonic plot (she strongly didn't doubt the last one), but from what she'd gotten a glimpse of in that exam room, she knew she didn't want to cross his path when he was _really_ pissed off.

The question arose about what they were to do when they arrived at Titan's Tower. Maybe if she spoke with the leader, Robin, she could explain that Ray was an unstable patient of Sun Oak's and that she had feared for her safety and so she brought him there. Robin would no doubt wonder why a ten-year-old boy had frightened her so and subsequently demanded to be brought to them. To be sure, that's exactly what she was wondering. But maybe he would go along with the game.

Why the _hell_ had she agreed to take him? Not only was she risking her job, she might be risking lives...

Or saving them.

She had no idea of Ray's true intentions, should they not be what he told her they were. But whatever they were, she damn well hoped they were good intentions, or else she would never be able to live with herself.

And then, a thought occurred to her. _Maybe,_ she thought, _he's doing this because _he_ wouldn't be able to live with _himself_ if he doesn't._

* * *

"What is this? Raven is partaking in the playing of video games?" Starfire stood in awe as she watched the race on the screen. 

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, dismally.

"Yes!" Raven exclaimed with a laugh.

"Not only that," Cyborg snorted, rolling his eyes. "But she's kickin' ass."

"I can't _believe_ how much _fun_ this is!" Raven cried, gleefully.

"Raven, contain yourself!"

Raven jumped at the voice and at the same time, a nearby glass vase shattered into a million pieces, its sharp shards flying in every direction. One even cut into her shoulder. She scowled at it and pulled it out. She looked up at the voice who had caused her to lose her calm.

He _will be a problem_, Larkin thought.

And there he stood, in all his glory, at the top of the stairs, hands on his hips. Had their been a breeze, Larkin was sure it would have filled his cape.

"Yes, Robin?" Raven asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. The leader of the Titans descended the stairs, looking reproachful.

"You _know_ too much expression of any of your emotions is bad news," he snapped. "As you reveled in your victory just now, I noticed that vase levitate to the ceiling."

"I know that," Raven snapped, defensively. _But I wonder how _you_ do..._

Robin nodded, as if he had done her a great service. Larkin scowled at him inwardly. It was obvious from the look in Robin's eye that he didn't trust him.

But the others did...

"Raven, could I talk to you for a second?" Robin asked. Raven looked back at the two boys on the couch wistfully. She looked like she really wanted to continue playing with them...

No! Larkin hissed to himself. Video games were pointless, no matter how entertaining. Just like friends...

Friends...

The concept eluded him somehow. All his 'friends' had been his followers, worshipers, Talents ardent for some desperate glory. They all died in the end, mostly by his manipulative mind that had proved too much for them. His own son had fallen victim to his overestimations of a human's mental strength.

In time, he came to realize that friends, like the human race, were weak and fickle. His followers saw him as a God, something to save them from themselves. They befriended him out of terrified reverence, not out of congeniality. He had no real use for friends.

Nor did he have any use for the Teen Titans other than to use him to his own advantage.

"Raven?" Robin repeated, a little more forcefully. Raven turned away from the TV that had entranced her and glowered at him.

"Fine," she said, sounding like her old self. She followed Robin out of the common room, up the stairs, down a hall, until they stood outside of his room. He opened the door and looked over his shoulder at his companion when she did not follow.

"Um... you can come in."

Raven stared at him wide-eyed, almost shocked. Her mouth was half open and she stared at him with an emotion he could not discern. But it disappeared quickly and Robin wondered if he'd imagined it. Her lips were pursed and she held her head high in a proud, almost arrogant way... like she was trying to hide something shameful from him.

It was the first time throughout all his years of knowing her that Robin even received the slightest inkling of Raven's thoughts and feelings.

That is, excluding six months ago, when she had intruded uninvited– yet quite welcomed– into his head. It was bound to leave a mark on him. And when she had told Larkin to "take her instead..." He couldn't help but be impressed. He knew that every Titan on the team cared for one another, and would have done the same for any of their friends... but none of them had ever had to before. Raven had been willing to die for him. Worse, she had been willing to sell her soul to a demon... for him. So he could live.

Little did she know Robin's worst fear was exactly that. Living... without his friends.

She stood before him now, her back to him, examining his room as though she'd never seen it before, staring in awe at the collection of news clippings that covered his desk; the floor to ceiling stacks books that littered the floor like stalagmites in a cave; a retired Red X mask on the floor in the corner, collecting dust; and, most embarrassingly, a stuffed Teddy Bear resting next to his computer. Quickly, he stuffed the offending bear out of sight and under his desk.

He turned back to his companion, who now had her arms folded, aparently bored with his room now, waiting for him to continue.

There she is... he thought. _And yet, there she's not. Who _are_ you, Raven?_

"I... This... Well, needless to say, I've been having odd feelings... about you..."

Raven cocked a mocking eyebrow and scoffed. "Robin, I hardly have time for petty male hormones."

Robin was taken aback. "Wha-what? No, no, that's not what I mean at all..."

"Then please explain yourself," she said, both eyebrows raised. "I would like to play with Beast Boy and Cyborg."

Robin nodded at her grinning, glad for the opportunity to bring up his point. He picked up a pencil on his desk and shook it at her. "See, it's things like that... little things you do and say, small mannerisms... And big things too, like your smile."

She looked offended. "What's wrong with my smile?"

"N-nothing!" Robin stuttered, shocked for some reason, by the question. "Well, I mean, _something._ There's something in it, something in your eyes... first of all, you _rarely_ smile warmly at us, and when you do smile, it's normally sardonic."

"Ah, yes, me and my faithful sarcasm..." Raven nodded, smiling wistfully. Robin frowned at her curiously, wondering if she was using that 'faithful sarcasm' at that moment... or saying something else entirely. She shook of her nostalgic look and looked at him pointedly. "But that's not me anymore, Robin. Look, Starfire had the same concerns you do. I told her that through my meditation I reached my ultimate, a point of enlightenment... call it Nirvana, if you're of that belief." The flicker of a smile that crossed her features seemed almost mocking. "My point is, I've finally learned to contain myself and my powers with minimal effort, allowing me to express my emotions in a more healthy fashion. I figure, what better time to have you get to know the real me... without my masks."

Robin looked at her skeptically. "But... you _haven't_ learned to control your powers, Rae," he said. "That vase just now..."

"–Was an accident," Raven finished quickly. She laughed it off. "Really, Robin, a silly mistake. I'm still getting used to this whole emotion thing. I have it under control."

"Mm hm..." Robin said, narrowing his eyes at her critically. She sighed, annoyed.

"You still don't believe me, do you?" she asked. "Starfire does. Cyborg and Beast Boy do. Why can't you?"

Robin stared at her long and hard before answering. Finally, he sighed. "Because I _know_ you, Raven. And no matter what you tell me... this _isn't_ you. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but you're... you have this aura about you that's totally different from what I remember... When you were in my head last April, I... I could _feel _you. And since, I've always been able to. I would know when you walked into a room, I would know when you were stressed or upset, I would know when to leave you be and when to try and comfort you. True, most often you denied it and turned me away, but you always went to your room and poured over that damn mirror of yours... Rae, one thing you don't get about emotions are that they're there for a reason. You can't bottle them up and expect them to go away. You can't siphon it off during meditation. The best cure for a troubled heart is conversation... But I'm totally off topic here."

"Yes," said Raven coldly, sounding deeply angered and offended. "You are. And out of line."

Robin sighed. "Raven..."

"No. Who are you to tell me who I am and who I'm not? Come on, Robin, do you really know me that well? One ten minute battle in your head and suddenly you're Mr Intuitive! Look, Robin, you _don't_ know me. You're wrong."

"Look, Raven, the point is... I can't _feel_ you anymore. I... it's..." He bit his lip.

Raven folded her arms and shifted her weight to one foot, smiling smugly.

"_Feel _me? Are you _sure_ this isn't some petty crush?"

"Shut up!" Robin snapped, defensively, somehow detecting aggressive connotations to Raven's tone. Her lips curved into a wretched grin, her eyes agleam with a deep rooted need for intimidation.

"What's the matter, Robin? Did I strike a nerve?"

Robin was glaring at her annoyed a moment, furious that she wasn't cooperating and even more furious that he couldn't communicate what he was feeling. At least, not without it sounding romantic.

And this is far_ from romantic,_ he assured himself. Just as the adamant thought trailed through his mind, his eyes widened in shock when he felt something... _touch him._

But he looked down and Raven was yards away. He frowned in confusion. Raven seemed impassive, but oddly silent. She was eying him curiously. For a moment, everything was fine.

Then the sensation returned.

It was a tingly sensation, the kind one gets when one's foot falls asleep. Only, the feeling shot through his mind like an alarm and his head flew around, searching for a source... but could find none. The feeling died and he noticed Raven's eyes still on him, now looking frustrated and determined.

Suddenly, he felt something barge against his mind, like a migraine ready to tear open his skull... only the pain was more than physical.

"Holy hell!" he screamed, his eyes now flying to Raven. Raven looked terribly unhappy. His eyes widened in horror. "Raven... Raven, was that... are you... What the hell are you doing?"

She sighed, folded her arms and pouted. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"What's wrong with you!" Robin demanded, in that tone he used when he wouldn't settle for anything other than an honest answer. She smiled at him smugly again.

"Nothing," said Raven. "That's my whole point, Robin. Nothing will ever be wrong with me again."

Robin sighed and closed his eyes. "Raven... I miss you. What the hell happened to you? What the hell are you trying to do to me? God damn, Raven..." He sniffed, and turned away from her eyes, having an urge to grab the teddy bear out from under the desk.

Raven frowned in suspicious surprise. "Robin... are you... crying...???"

Robin wiped his tears away and shook his head, solemnly, glaring at her, almost knowingly, with fierce ferocity.

"No," he said, curtly. "You are."

* * *

Raven continued to stare out the window as the raindrops trickled down the pane. She sniffed and rubbed at her red eyes as the warm tears slid down her boyish cheeks. Her heart ached to think of what Larkin would do to her friends once he gained full control of them. 

All of a sudden, there was a stabbing pain in the back of her skull. Instantly, an image of Robin was conjured by her mind.

No... she thought, retreating to her deteriorating consciousness. _Please, not Robin._ This would not be the last time she remembered him. She had forgotten so much of her past already, with wild flashes in her mind's eye, one final blaze of glory before the image tumbled down the waterfall of the Mind Stream, carried off into deletion.

Not Robin. She refused. Plenty of other memories she could no longer recall had already been lost to the vicious Mind Stream, a train of consciousness that runs through everyone's minds, cosmically linking every living being. Some said even the meaning of life could be found in its swirling waters, compilations of the thoughts of geniuses and dreams of artists.

She would not lose her friends to that Stream.

But as she inspected her pillars of memory, she noted that Robin's section was intact, for the most part. Frowning, she wondered what could have brought him to mind...

Again.

That was when she realized. She was _feeling_ disturbances in his mental rhythms.

Someone was trying to do him harm. And she knew all too well who.

"Well, we're here." Abby's voice extracted Raven out of her tangle of thoughts. The little boy hastily wiped away his tears and looked eagerly across the water at the giant T that rose in the middle. Raven grinned.

"The next ferry is at 3:00," Abby said, looking at the sign. But Raven shook her head, looking out across the sea.

"I can't wait that long," she said.

Abby cocked an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, little guy, you're going to have to. They only stop at the island on special request. And they're not leaving for another ten minutes. You can handle that, can't you?" She analyzed the sign. "Damn, it costs twenty bucks extra to stop there... I'm not paying that."

"You won't have to," said Raven, a grin slowly spreading across her features. She searched her new body for the powers Larkin possessed and was delighted to find that the levitation technique was present. "I wonder if this will work... I've never done this before."

"Done what?" Abby asked.

"You coming?" Raven inquired of the petite brunette. She could feel Abby's confusion as clearly as the mist from the ocean. Still smiling, she turned to her. "Well?"

"Coming... where?" Abby said. Raven laughed and rolled her eyes, seizing the nurses hand.

"Come on, let's see the horsepower this little engine has." She smiled inwardly at the joke, knowing she would have baffled both Cyborg and Beast Boy with the unusual remark.

With this in mind, she cautiously rose into the air.

Abby shrieked and clung desperately to Raven's small arm. Raven was ecstatic.

"Don't worry, Abby, I have you," she said, finding the nurse's reaction quite comical indeed.

"Ray, _I_ don't even have me!" Abby cried nervously. They advanced over the water at running speed. Abby looked incredibly pale. "I don't even think I'll have my _lunch_ anymore in a minute."

What's the matter, Abby? Raven thought to herself. _Are you getting a little airsick?_

Inwardly, she snickered.

Beast Boy would have had a blast to hear her talking as she was.

A once in a lifetime opportunity that he'll never have.

* * *

The room was silent as each teen stared at one another suspiciously. Whatever trust had previously been present had evaporated. Robin knew that he wasn't speaking to Raven. He wasn't even speaking to a good actor. He saw straight through the facade. 

"What have you done to her?" he asked, his breathing heavy, his voice barely a whisper.

A sinister smile crept across the girl's face. "Clever Robbie."

And then the sound of a doorbell.

Both teens ignored it.

They continued in their glaring contest until they heard Beast Boy.

"Rae, Rob, you might wanna come see this."


	5. 3:00: Flock together

**_Author's Note:_** Uh... heh... more liberties taken with Raven's past. These are sketchier than all the other "liberties" I've taken. Depending on how you look at it, this one could be either the least-- or most-- plausible (IMO-- the least). Hah, but I thought it would be fun. So deal. :-p.

From Russian Roulette, my little between chapters "half-time" show, you can tell I like crafting inner personalities. Crafting new pasts is also a hobby. Snicker. I'm a character developement freak. So sue me.

Ah, King Cheetah, yes, you liked the title of that last chapter, eh? Haha... (Note: All read the King's "Birds of a Feather." What he's got is good)

There's your plug. :D

Thank you again, Instant Coffee, for being ever so inspiring. And Keystone. And everyone else. You're all so wonderful.

I won't cry, I promise you.

Moving on now.

* * *

Chapter Five: 3:00: ... Flock Together

3:00

When Robin and Raven entered the common room, they saw Cyborg and Beast Boy away from the television for the first time. Along with Starfire, they were standing around a small boy who looked determined, and a young woman.

Upon hearing Robin and Raven's entrance, the boy looked up impassively and stared directly at Raven a moment before he closed his eyes and seemed to tremble. The woman tried to hold him up.

"I'm fine," he insisted, treating her more like his inferior. Surprisingly, the woman meekly nodded and let him be.

Robin stared at him long and hard as something dormant seemed to awaken in the back of his mind, like a flower sprouting from frozen terrain. It was familiar, yet somehow alien, and strangely comforting...

His mind began to tingle again.

The boy's breath was quivering, but he shook it off.

"What have you done to me...?" he whispered.

"Would you be more comfortable resting in a chair?" Starfire offered hospitably. The boy smiled at her warmly and wanly.

"Thank you for your perpetual kindness, Starfire," he told her. His voice was wispy, almost hoarse. Yet, he sounded so old... not like a child at all.

The room seemed to drop several degrees below zero

"Who are you?" Robin asked when the odd silence became too chilling.

The boy looked up at him with sad eyes. He then turned to Raven and his countenance changed. For a moment, his eyes were colder than the temperature in the room. "I _used_ to be your friend," he said.

The silence returned.

"So... who are you now?" Cyborg asked.

"Doctors at our hospital have been asking him the same question," said the woman in the corner, a small brunette. It had been the first time she'd said anything and all eyes were on her. She shifted uncomfortably. "I should explain..."

"No, Abby, don't," the boy ordered, waving a hand at her as if to dismiss her. He then looked menacingly at Raven. "Allow me. I speak to you with the vocal cords of a corpse." Suddenly, he stopped and gasped.

"Ray?" Abby asked, nervously.

Strange shivers chased each other up and down Robin's spine. Almost instinctively, he turned his attention to Raven. But she was merely eying the boy intently...

The true Raven was shocked into silence by the jarring collision that rocked her mind.

They won't believe you...

Leave me alone!

Why did you come here?

I need to save them from... from...

What's the matter, dear? Is your brain falling apart so much you can no longer finish your own thoughts?

"Stop it!" Ray sobbed aloud. He trembled when he opened his eyes. "It wasn't half as hard to think now as it was ten minutes ago."

"Ray..."

"No!" Ray snapped at Abby. She seemed incredibly intimidated by such a small boy. "I need to... I need to..."

"You say this boy belongs to a mental hospital?" Raven asked suddenly. Abby looked up at the telekinetic curiously.

"I... Yes..." she said slowly, looking suspicious.

"What have you brought him here for?" she asked, inscrutably.

Abby looked stunned. "I... I... I don't know..."

"Well, take him back," said Raven. "This is no place for a sick little boy."

Abby seemed to find her footing again. "Right," she said curtly, nodding. "I'm terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you. He's been with us six months, practically threatened me to bring him here–"

"Abby!" the boy snapped, shocked and angry, seeming to have come out of some sort of trance.

"Well, I'm sorry, Ray, but you're _delusional!_" Abby retorted, harshly.

"Hm," said Raven, with a twitch of a smile. "Yes, quite."

"Look," said Abby, addressing Raven. "I am _so_ sorry to bother you, but if you could just..."

"Just _listen to me!_" Ray cried. Everyone grew silent.

Raven raised her eyebrows, feigning interest. "And what do you have to say? We're all listening."

"Oh, don't do that," said Ray, rolling his eyes. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you. And neither does my body."

"Your... body?" Robin said, curiously.

The boy looked at him intently for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, Robin. _My_ body."

"I'm a little confused here," said Cyborg.

"Don't be," Raven said, eying the boy menacingly. "I can explain everything."

"Don't lie to them," Ray sneered, threateningly. "If you say one word–"

"Oh shut up, would you?" Raven said, rolling her eyes. She looked next at Beast Boy. "_This_ was the kid that called you earlier. He's convinced himself that he's me and that somehow, I've taken over his body with some sort of hocus pocus I'm incapable of doing. I humored him a while, but he began to get more irritating than your antics, Beast Boy. And since, he's been obsessed with me. It's been going on for quite a while."

"Has it?" said Abby quietly. Raven turned to her, as if just noticing she was still there and nodded, her face expressionless. Abby frowned to herself. Robin eyed her in interest, watching her wheels turn, though he didn't know what she could be thinking about.

"That's some wacky story," said Beast Boy with a laugh.

"However, possession _would_ explain your newfound fondness for video games," said Starfire. Ray looked at her hopefully, but his hope disappeared when he saw that Starfire was smiling broadly at Raven.

"Are you mocking me, Starfire?" he asked, nonchalantly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a grin spread across Robin's features.

"It seems so," said their leader. "Looks like Raven isn't the only one acting out of character..."

"I'm sorry, kid," said Cyborg, ruffling the boy's hair. "We can only handle one Raven. I don't know what we'd do with two."

Ray's eyes narrowed. "Don't. Touch. Me."

Suddenly, there was another mental jolt to the real Raven's mind wall that was so devastating, it was almost physical and she had to stagger backwards and shake her head to regain balance. Everything was spinning.

Why do you always pick battles you can never win?

Get out of my head!

"Ray?" Abby asked tentatively. She looked worried. "Ray, sweetie, can you hear me?"

Robin, too, seemed to share her concern. "Ray?" he said, coming over to the boy, who had fallen to his knees. "Ray... are you OK?"

"Of course he is," Abby said, laughing nervously as she lifted Ray up in her arms (with some difficulty). "It's just, er, part of his illness, you see. He loses consciousness... and, uh... yeah." She flashed them her winning smile, for effect.

"Would you like a ride back to the hospital?" Cyborg offered. Abby looked up at him and bit her lip.

"I brought my car..." she said slowly.

"Come on," said Cyborg, grinning. "You're not gonna give up a chance to ride in the T-Car, are you? It'll get you there in practically no time at all, too."

"Cyborg likes to display his car proudly, with its leather wheels and treaded upholstery." Starfire grinned.

Abby laughed. "That would be great," she said. "Thank you."

"I'll help you two into the car," Beast Boy said, glaring at Cyborg as if afraid of being upstaged.

"That's very sweet of you," said Abby as Beast Boy took the boy from her arms.

As the elevator doors closed, Cyborg sighed and shook his head.

"Well, I better start the car," he said. "Damn, this is bad..."

"Tell me about it..." said Robin, absently, as he watched the elevator. "That kid seems pretty bad off."

"Who cares about the kid?" Cyborg cried as he found the car keys between the cushions of the couch. "I haven't beaten Beast Boy _once_ in _any_ game _all day!_"

* * *

Raven looked around at her mental landscape horrified. Everything was caving in around her.

No! she screamed. _This can't be happening! I need to save the Titans! I _need_ to save my friends!_

She shrieked as a pillar of memory crumbled.

No! If this goes on much longer, I won't even remember what I'm doing!

This wasn't working. It was taking her too much effort to try and keep herself conscious. It was drawing from her interior mind, which was only weakening it. She looked warily at her emotional portal, which had been wide open for a long time now... She'd forgotten what many of these emotions, in their raw form, felt like. Fear, anger, guilt and despair swarmed around her head, disorienting her. She wondered how much havoc she would cause if she'd had her powers. She might have destroyed the whole world with one anguished howl.

But the fact of the matter was that... she couldn't. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did.

From the depths of her soul she let out a scream that had been sealed away for years. With it came all her memories of her childhood, of when her mother would lock her away at night and forget her there for days... of listening to her mother's illogical shrieks as her brain slowly dribbled away out of her ears and out the window, over the hill and into the valley where she would be safe...

The knife, the threats, the beatings, the anger, the haunting calls of her father...

And then, she was dead.

And Raven ran.

Never be like her. Never never never nevernevernevernevernever...........

Confused. Too many lights. Where is the darkness?

Never be like her.

Never lose your mind.

"You have a very powerful mind, my little songbird..."

Never remember him.

Never remember the pain they caused you.

But worst and most of all, never forget.

Forget...

NO!!!!

For a brief moment, Raven was conscious. She caught a glimpse of Abby's hair, obscured in the afternoon light shining through a car window...

"He's screaming!!!"

"Would you try and keep him quiet? I nearly swerved off the road!"

No...

It's all happening too fast! It's only 3:00!

Larkin's voice cackled in Raven's head. She closed her eyes again...

The darkness returned and Abby's hair disappeared.

This has to be temporary, Raven thought. _Please... by being in such a close proximity with Larkin, my mind went off on me. I'll be OK..._

"Mommy?"

It was so real.

"Mommy?"

"Baby doll... there you are..."

"Mommy... Mommy, I'm in here. Mommy, please, let me out! I'm hungry. Mommy, please!"

"It'll be OK baby doll... I'll get you some carrots..."

"Mommy... Mommy, we don't have carrots. Mommy? Mommy, where did you go? Mommy, please, can you let me out of here? It's dark and I'm... I'm scared. Mommy, please... Mommy? Where did you go? Mommy!"

Mommy...

Three days. It had seemed like three weeks.

Mommy never returned with carrots.

Mommy...

GOD DAMN IT! Raven screamed in her head. _Good GOD get me out of here! I'm a prisoner in my own mind! This is INSANE! I'm insane... Oh God, Cyborg? Is that you? Are you OK? Has he hurt you, Cyborg? Cyborg? Cyborg... where did you go? Cyborg!_

I'm lost and I'm never coming home...

* * *

"Ah!" Robin exclaimed as he fell to his knees.

Beast Boy whistled as he rounded the corner of the hall with his pilfered prize: the last slice of cheese pizza. But he stopped at the sight before him. "Robin?" he said, worriedly, rushing to help his friend. "Hey, Robin, are you OK?"

The leader of the Titan's eyes were screwed shut as his hands formed fists, his fingernails tearing into the carpeting. His teeth were gritted and his back was arched like a cat's. "Dammit..." he uttered. "No... _No!_"

His eyes opened and Beast Boy pulled his hand away from him as though he'd been burned. Red fireballs glowed briefly in Robin's sockets before his eyes returned to normal. He looked at Beast Boy a moment, breathing hard. He was pale and clammy, drenched in sweat, and he trembled there, his breath a ragged staccato of sound. Then, his eyes rolled and he fell to the floor.

"Robin!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Relax, Beast Boy," Robin heaved, rolling onto his back. "I'm fine."

"What the hell was that about, man?" Beast Boy demanded, hands on his hips. "You almost had me worried there."

Robin seemed to have enough energy to smile up at Beast Boy. "Almost... eh?"

"Yeah, almost," Beast Boy shrugged. "So what happened?"

Robin sighed as he sat up and he could feel the blood rushing through his body, trying to catch up. It was almost as if his heart had stopped for a few seconds and his body was deprived as the vivid life liquid. Perhaps it had been. He didn't really know. He rubbed his head and noticed he was still shaking. "I'm not exactly sure," he said. "It hurt like hell."

"Has it happened before?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin shook his head. "Nah..." he said. "But... Raven."

"It's happened to Raven?" Beast Boy looked shocked. "Call Cyborg, we may have an epidemic!"

"No, Beast Boy," said Robin, rolling his eyes. "I... I saw her. Well, felt her is more appropriate."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "OK... hiding from a little crush are we?"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Robin exclaimed. "I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON RAVEN!"

"Coulda fooled me..."

Both boys froze at the sardonic voice. Each turned and saw Raven making her way slyly down the hall.

"Beast Boy, is that my pizza?" Beast Boy looked from his abandoned pizza box on the floor, to Robin, to Raven.

"Y-your pizza?" He shook his head and regained his composure. Suddenly, he looked annoyed. "No, actually it's–"

"Of course," Robin interrupted, eying Beast Boy sharply. "He was just about to bring it to you."

Raven smiled at Robin, then at Beast Boy as she picked up the pizza box, opened it, and pulled out the slice.

"Thanks," she said, taking a bite as she walked down the hall.

Beast Boy was fuming. He raised his finger and was about to yell after her when Robin stopped him.

"We have bigger things to talk about," said Robin.

"Right," said Beast Boy, remembering Robin's recent heart attack. "What exactly happened again? Just so, you know, I can take the precautionary measures so I don't catch whatever you and Raven have."

"Beast Boy, it's not a virus," Robin said, flatly, his eyes narrowed in irritation.

"That's OK," said Beast Boy. "I got antibacterial stuff too!"

"And it's not bacteria," said Robin, getting angrier by the second. "It's... a mental thing."

"Oh..." said Beast Boy, understanding. He looked as though about to say more, but fell oddly silent and began to avoid Robin's eyes. "A _mental_ thing. Right. So, uh, what happened?"

Robin frowned, surprised at Beast Boy's strangely sympathetic attitude, but he ignored it. "I just saw some of the scariest stuff..."

"Worse than Wicked Scary 4?" Beast Boy said, looking awe-stricken.

"Yeah, worse than... wait, there's a Wicked Scary 4? I mean... That's irrelevant. What I meant is, it was like staring into Raven's childhood. Dark and cold, with some crazy woman who locked her in the basement. She killed herself."

"Who, Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, the woman," Robin said. "Took the kitchen knife while cutting little Raven's bread for a sandwich, ran her finger over the blade, fingered her throat, than took the blade to it."

"Her finger?"

"No, you idiot, her _throat!_ Right in front of kid Raven."

"Wow, that's pretty intense..." said Beast Boy, staring off to the side. He seemed to snap out of it as he looked up at Robin. "Hey, wanna play Gamestation? Cyborg's driving, and I need to kick someone else's ass for a change."

"Beast Boy did you not hear a word I just said?" Robin exclaimed, angrily.

"Um, yes?" Beast Boy said, shrugging. Robin sighed.

"I'll be in my room," he said.

Beast Boy shrugged again. "Suit yourself. I'm off to beat Cy's high scores then."

* * *

"Now he's crying..." Abby said, looking at Ray sympathetically.

"Thanks for the update," Cyborg muttered, annoyed.

"What's wrong with yeh, Ray?" Abby asked, brushing back his hair tenderly.

As they stopped at a red light, Cyborg looked over his shoulder at the boy in the back seat.

"He'll be OK, won't he?" Cyborg asked worriedly, his irritation melting away at the sight of the boy's pale face.

Abby sighed. "We hope so," she said.

"So... what exactly's wrong with him, anyway?" Cyborg asked as the light turned green again.

"Well, I _think_ I know..." said Abby, pensively. "But it's classified. I can't discuss my patients. It's against hospital policy."

Cyborg looked at her skeptically in his rearview mirror. "You can't even tell me if he's schizo or MPD or what?"

Abby shook her head. "Nope, can't say."

"You know, he kinda reminds me of someone... I can't quite place it, though."

"Really?" said Abby, sounding interested. "Well, if you ever figure out who he is, please tell us, because we're still trying to do so ourselves."

"Will do," said Cyborg.

They were silent a while and Abby watched Ray sadly, and tended to him. After a while, he stirred and looked up at her bleary eyed.

"Is it raining outside?" he asked, weakly. Abby smiled.

"No, dear," she said. "The rain stopped a long time ago."

Soon, they were back at Sun Oak's.

"Well, here you are."

"Thanks," said Abby, smiling. "I, uh, may be back later to pick up my car..."

"Drop by anytime," Cyborg said. He looked at the boy, who was rubbing his head and looked weary. "You too, little guy. Just... don't say anything about being Raven... it's kinda creepy."

Ray nodded absently. "Yeah..." he muttered.

"The next time I bring him, we hope that he'll be out of that obsession," said Abby. Ray glared at her and, to his surprise, she nudged him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed.

Abby watched as Cyborg drove away and looked down at Ray. "You're one weird little guy, do you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry..." Ray mumbled, staring at the ground. "It's all lost now..."

But Abby smiled at him warmly and kneeled down to his level, putting a hand on either shoulder. "Don't talk nonsense," she said. "I believe you, Raven."

Ray was startled out of his defeated stupor. "Wha-what?"

Abby chuckled. "Back there... the way they all acted when Raven came in... You forget I'm a psychiatric nurse."

"You don't have to be a psychiatric nurse to know that the mind in my body is evil," said Ray. But he frowned. "It's more than that... this is more than psychology and behavioralism. What made you change your mind."

"First off," said Abby. "I never told them you were in a mental hospital. Second of all, you've been incoherent and incapable of making phone calls for the six months you've been with us, so you couldn't have been annoying her with crank calls. And the thing is, you're definitely not human, not after that creepy red-eye display you gave back in that exam room. So... either you've got a serious optic problem that you need to take a look at, or... you're telling the truth. It's kind of hard to accept, but I really have no other choice."

Ray smiled at Abby, the first genuine smile she'd seen on his face. "You're more observant than I gave you credit for. So, that whole thing... it was a show?"

Abby nodded, grinning. "I should have pursued and acting career."

"I wouldn't go that far," said Ray. Abby hit him.

* * *

"Robin?"

"Go away, Starfire."

Robin was, once again, slumped over his desk, looking defeated.

"Robin, why all this trouble? There's nothing wrong with our friend. Can you not see how much happier she is now?"

Robin looked up at his friend. "Starfire... don't you see? It's not Raven."

Starfire frowned. "This intuition of yours... it has told you something?"

Robin stood and turned away folding his arms. "That kid, Ray... when he got here, I could _feel_ her again."

"So you believe the boy was speaking the truth?" Starfire asked, skeptically. Robin turned to her frowning.

"And you don't?" he said.

Starfire sighed. "Well... Robin... You must understand how difficult this is for me to comprehend... Raven is happier than she has ever been, and all you are doing is searching for the... what do you call it? The catch. Why can you not just accept that she is different now, better."

"_Better?!_" Robin exclaimed. "You really think she's better?"

Starfire folded her arms, stubbornly. "If she is smiling more, and laughing more, and playing more, than yes, I do believe this is for the better. Robin, why does everything always have to be so bad? When a blessing comes, we must embrace it, not look for a hidden fee. She has persuaded me that–"

"She's persuaded you?" said Robin. "How?"

Starfire looked surprised. "I... well, she spoke with me and I..."

"Believed her?"

"Well what else am I to do, Robin?" Starfire snapped, angrily. "She is my friend, and I told her I would always trust her."

"Starfire, I'm your friend too," said Robin. "So why don't you trust me?"

Starfire sighed, seeming frustrated. But then, she seemed to collect herself, and she smiled at him. "I _do_ trust you, Robin. I always have. You are wise and intuitive, but... but this is making no sense. What you say seems ridiculous to me. Raven says that you've been..." But immediately, she stopped and gasped, as though she'd said too much.

Robin held his head and sank down into his desk chair again. "What did she say, Starfire?"

"She told me not to mention it to you," said Starfire.

"I think I have a right to know what Raven's saying about me."

Starfire sighed and nodded. "You are right, you do," she said. "Raven has informed us... _all_ of us... of your illness..."

"Illness?" Robin said, with a scoffing laugh. "And what would this be? Paranoid schizophrenia?"

Starfire ignored him as she continued slowly. "She says... that it is not your fault. She says it is something that has been infesting your mind since you and Larkin did battle. She says that it would cause you to think things that aren't true, and to see things that are not there..."

"Yeah, I was right," said Robin. "Paranoia."

"And," Starfire said, trying harder to ignore him, "that you were... susceptible to the suggestion that anything has gone wrong. She says it has been the root of some of your obsessions over criminals as well. She says that now, you have even named her a criminal. She says that she tried to help you, but you refused to let her. Robin, what next? Will you turn us all against you?"

"It seems Raven doing a fair enough job of that without my help," Robin muttered. He sighed as he rested his head in his hand. "So I guess I'll be joining that kid in Sun Oak's then, won't I? Robin the schizophrenic and Ray the psycho. Won't we be the pair?"

"Robin..." said Starfire, sounding as though she wished she'd said nothing at all. "Robin, we would never..."

"Go," said Robin condescendingly, waving a hand at her, his face buried in his other hand. "I don't have the energy for this."

Quietly, Starfire nodded and she left, closing the door behind her.

Alone in the dark, Robin thought to himself. _Maybe I am crazy..._


	6. 4:00: Quoth the Raven

**_Author's Note:_** OK. So it took me a while getting this up. I warned you. Luckily, chapter seven is written and ready, however chapter eight is being annoying now. So yeah. Just... keep your eye peeled. Chapters should come within the week, or if not, then within two. I shouldn't ever exceed those limits.

Also, I would like to thank all you wonderful people for giving thoughtful reviews! I love the questions you ask! I'm sorry, I can't name you all, but your questions bring ideas to mind. And your corrections as well (such as the whole "that's not how Raven's past went" thing.) Though it's been established that Rae's past has been improvised and remolded by Yours Truly, I enjoy any information you can give me about her ACTUAL past. The name of her mother, for instance, came in handy and I got an idea and used it. The question about Robin's mental self... soul self, I like that (and will give you credit... "El Jugador" for coining the expression). Perhaps that shall be answered in time. You see, I like questions, because they jolt me out of the limbo of writer's block. When you think these questions up, you force me to think of answers either to incorporate into the story or explain in Author's Notes.

Also, I do understand that switching between Raven Raven and Larkin Raven (if THAT made any sense) can be confusing... When inside their heads, or writing in their POV, I call each by their given name-- Raven as Raven, and Larkin as Larkin. When outside their heads, or in a general POV, I call each by how the look like, or the name they've given themselves-- Raven as Ray and Larkin as Raven. If that just confused you more, please, by all means, ignore it.

As a last note, I would like to remind everyone that this fic is dedicated to **Instant Coffee The Magnificent** (Without the magnificent in her actual title-- though it should be there.) Currently, she's been pretty stressed, so all give a shout out to her to have a little fun now and then but also finish the school work/other work she needs to do-- so her great story can be posted quicker. So I just wanted to say that this chapter was mainly posted for her (though this story was mainly posted for her) as my way of saying "Feel better!" and "Here's something non-stressful for you to do." But by all means, Heather, don't let reading this interfere with your more important work. I'd fully understand if you read and reviewed this when all that is done. Cheers, hon.

So, I give you Chapter Six:

* * *

Chapter Six: 4:00: Quoth the Raven

4:00

Raven walked the white foreboding corridors of Sun Oak's warily.

It feels like I've been here before... she thought.

Abby had suggested the walk would clear her cluttered head. While unconscious, she had used the pillars of memory of her own four best friends to keep her mind from falling. Enforced by her feelings for them, and her determination, she was certain that if anything was strong enough to keep her from going completely insane, that would do it.

Larkin had attacked her mental barrier, which had caused the mental skeleton she had erected to crumble and it had crashed in on her. Her memories, for the most part, were intact, though she was sad that there were some memories she would never know again.

Damn Larkin, she thought to herself. But she knew cursing him would do her no good. She needed a strategy, a good one, in order to defeat him once and for all. _But how?_

Abby had vowed to help her. "If I can do one thing in this world to help a super hero, I will," she'd told Raven proudly after she'd fluently lied to Dr. Taylor about taking Raven to Jump City General Hospital for a CAT scan. He'd scolded her for not telling him, then quickly gave up when he noticed she was no longer listening. Raven was impressed that he hadn't even asked for the CT. Abby had informed her that Taylor treated her more like an incompetent medical student than an experienced nurse. Just as well, he expected her to lose half the things for which she was responsible. And since he didn't need the results of Ray's medical check-up, he just assumed Abby had 'misplaced them.'

"Sometimes, it's quite convenient," said Abby with a wink.

Abby had ordered Raven to relax a little, despite her protests. And so now, she found herself wandering the halls of the psychiatric hospital, past rooms with names she didn't know...

All but one.

Raven paused outside of room 251. Under the room number was the name "Dr. Light," and his doctor, which happened to be Taylor as well.

Raven put her palm cautiously on the door. It was cold and harsh, as well steel should be. She frowned. Strange vibes were coming from this room.

Dr. Light... Why is this name so familiar?

She looked around and noticed that she was in the closed ward where her own isolated room resided. She hadn't meant to wander here. Something had carried her here, and was still calling to her.

Cautiously, she pressed the button which unlocked the door and stepped inside.

The light was blinding. Raven had to cover her eyes.

A cloaked man, cowering in the far corner looked up. His eyes widened in fear and he frantically tried to flatten himself further against the padded walls.

"No... No..." he muttered, looking petrified. "Nonono, not you!"

"Please," said Raven slowly, "I don't want to hurt you..."

"Nonono..." the man mumbled. Raven frowned.

"You... you recognize me?"

"Evil, evil, evil..." the man uttered. He threw his hands over his ears as he sank to the floor, his eyes screwed shut. "Evilevilevilevilevilevil YOU!"

Raven hesitated. "I... who are you? Do... Did Larkin do something to you?"

"Dark. It's so dark..." His voice was unusually high pitched.

"Are you kidding? It's not even brighter on the sun!" Raven said.

Suddenly, the man's head turned and Raven froze. "No," he said. "You."

"I'm not Larkin," said Raven, slowly. "Whatever he did to you, I don't want to hurt you..."

"Hurt me..." the man echoed. "Hurtme hurtme hurtme..."

Raven took another step towards him, but he shrieked.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

Raven obeyed and stepped back instead. "I... How do you know who I am?"

"I felt that I must scream or die! And now– again! –Hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder!"

Raven eyed him warily a moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued in his rant. He covered his ears.

"Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –Tear up the planks! Here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

Recognition hit Raven like a gong and it resonated through her damaged head.

"Poe..." she whispered, as the man writhed on the floor in mental agony. "Why are you quoting Poe?"

The man's behavior changed completely as he stopped in his screams and sat up, staring directly at Raven. "It haunts me at night..." he whispered. "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping... As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

Cold fear settled in the pit of Raven's stomach as the muscles in her throat constricted. She blinked. "You... you don't recognize me as Larkin, do you?" she asked, stuttering.

Slowly, wickedly, he nodded up and down, grinning a twisted grin. "I opened wide the door; Darkness there, and nothing more..."

"No..." Raven muttered, stepping away from him, as if his insanity was spreading. "No, please, stop."

But he rose to his feet and advanced on her. "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before..."

"Please, no more," said Raven. "Who are you? Who am I? Oh God!" And the little boy began to sob.

The man stopped and eyed her curiously as she cried.

"Who _am_ I?"

Strangely, he kneeled next to her and placed a hand tenderly on her shoulder. She looked up at him, into his broken eyes and saw the damage that had been done to his mind.

Her damage...

She gasped.

"_I_ did this to you?"

He smiled fleetingly, but it was like seeing the smile of a ghost.

Slowly, words began to rise in the back of Raven's throat as she became entranced by his dead eyes... "Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

The grin on the man's face widened. "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore...'"

Raven trembled. Of course, how could she have forgotten?

"Dr. Light... Beast Boy... and Cyborg... my mirror... Oh God..." Raven stood. She looked at the man with pity. "I... I'm sorry," she said. "No one deserves the pain I caused you..."

Quickly, she dusted herself off and left the man, silent now, alone in the light.

Which, to Raven, was far worse than being alone in the dark.

* * *

"Starfire, what's wrong?"

Raven jumped as a star bolt destroyed the floor at her feet. She looked, wide-eyed, from the floor to Starfire. "Bad day?"

Starfire let out a frustrated growl and nearly burst into tears. "I do not _believe_ I said such a thing! Nor that you were the one who made me say it!"

Raven looked strangely worried but Starfire didn't notice. "I made you say what now?"

Starfire pouted as she slid to the floor in the hallway. She stared at her feet gloomily as she spoke. "I spoke with Robin about the illness you says he has."

Raven seemed to relax. "Oh. You told him that, huh?"

"Yes!" Starfire declared angrily, staring up at Raven with fiery green eyes. "And now, he believes I am a lorf-sucking klorbag!"

"Um... I don't think he really thinks that," said Raven, kneeling down beside Starfire and putting an arm tenderly around her shoulder. "I think he was just shocked. He's in denial right now. He won't believe anyone, not even me, and I've tried. He won't even let me into his head to fix the damage."

Starfire looked up at Raven, eagerly. "You... you can do that? You can fix him?"

Raven gave Starfire one of her newly common smiles. "Of course I can. It's a simple physical deterioration that can be fixed with some mental therapy. I'll need to work from the inside out, though, and I'll need access to his subconscious, which he's refusing me. I never realized he was so mind-sensitive. Every time I try to get close, he can feel me and he pulls away."

"I can help!" said Starfire eagerly. "We all will help. If it will help Robin recover, we all will do what we can."

Raven grinned broadly. "That's exactly what I needed to hear." She rose to her feet.

"Raven?" Starfire said, timidly, looking up after her. "You... you do believe that he will be alright? He was... hurt, when I spoke to him. I suppose I was... upset with myself for being so cruel. I did not like that distressed and painful expression upon his features when I spoke."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about him, Starfire," she said. "You're a wonderful person. You were just trying to help. Later, he'll realize this and love you all the more for it because you were the first to be honest with him."

Starfire brightened. "Do you really believe that is so?"

Raven gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course I do."

And then, Starfire did something Raven hadn't expected. She leapt up and hugged her.

"Thank you!" Starfire exclaimed. "I am so fortunate to have you as one of my best friends!"

Larkin, in Raven's body, stared dumbstruck over Starfire's shoulder. Slowly, cautiously, he returned the hug, a strange feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach. "Best... friends..."

* * *

Sandy, the current admin attendant, poked her head into the exam room Abby and Dr. Taylor were in, running tests on an MPD patient.

"Abby, someone's on the phone for you," said the freckled face.

"Who is it?" Abby asked.

"Dunno," said Sandy, shrugging. "He wouldn't say."

Abby nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks," she said. "I'll take it in a minute."

As the attendant disappeared behind the white door, Taylor was eying his patient intently over his clipboard. "Why don't you take that call now, Abby. Mrs. Kennedy doesn't seem to be going anywhere."

The woman on the couch laughed. "Oh please, Doctor," she said, melodically. "Call me Jackie!"

Taylor raised a mocking eyebrow at Abby, sharing a quiet joke. "As I was saying, I'm sure I can take care of... _Jackie_ here."

Suppressing a giggle, Abby nodded silently. "Yes, Doctor."

Snagging a clipboard from the stack on Sandy's desk, Abby looked it over as she picked up the phone. "This is Abby Clarke."

The voice on the other end was the last she had expected to hear.

"Abby? Hi. This is Robin... from the Teen Titans? Hey listen, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me about that patient you brought over today."

Abby stopped reading her chart. "I'm... sorry?"

"Ray, I think you said his name was. Right?"

"Uh... yeah," said Abby, frowning. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"I'm not sure what I'm looking for," said Robin. "I just wanted to sort some things out about him. How long exactly has he been at your hospital?"

Abby paused and smiled. "Which one, Ray or Raven?"

"Excuse me?" He sounded quite baffled.

Abby giggled. "Well you wouldn't be calling about him if you didn't believe the kid on some level. So tell me, Robin, what about Ray's fantastic story has captured _your_ imagination. No, no wait, don't tell me– he _looks_ like Raven, right? That's gotta be it." Abby burst into full-out fits of laughter.

"I guess I shouldn't have called then," said Robin, obviously offended. "Sorry to have bothered you."

Abby sobered and sighed. "Robin, wait," she said, her voice absent of mockery. "I was just... well, checking. Hold on a minute." Abby looked up. "Hey, Sandy. Could you go and give this chart to Dr. Taylor and ask him why the anorexic in 311 hasn't been discharged yet? Thanks, you're a doll..." Abby gave Sandy her winning smile.

Sandy reluctantly took the chart and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, knowing full well Abby's intentions.

Abby looked around at the open hall and was glad to see no one else was around. She jumped into Sandy's swivel chair and began to play solitaire on her computer.

"OK," she said. "So you _do_ believe him, er, her, er... well, you believe the story."

Robin hesitated. "... Yes...?" It was almost a question. Abby smiled.

"Good answer," said Abby. "Why."

"Why?"

"Yeah, why," said Abby. She abandoned her game of solitaire when she noticed Sandy's purse under the desk and snatched it. She began to dig through it as Robin thought of an answer.

"Why is a complicated thing to ask... do _you_ believe her?"

Abby pulled out a pack of Wrigley's gum from Sandy's purse and unwrapped a stick. "Yeah, actually. Though I gotta tell you, I didn't until after that display with your Raven over there."

"So this isn't some sort of psychological crap to test to see if I'm crazy, right?"

"That remains to be seen," said Abby. "Why have you called."

"Why does anyone call a psychiatric hospital? I want to know if I'm crazy or not." Abby nodded at this statement, chewing her gum slowly.

"I'm not exactly qualified to diagnose those things," she said.

"Well, then can you tell me the diagnoses on Ray?"

"Classified," Abby said. How she _loved _saying that word.

"Do you _like_ being difficult, or is it just in your nature?" Robin snapped, annoyed.

"A bit of both, actually," Abby said with a grin. She then leaned onto the desk and held her hand over her mouth secretively so her words would only be heard by the receiver. Her next words were very solemn. "Robin, I can't tell you anything about Ray," she said. "But I _can_ tell you my personal _opinion_ on _Raven_."

Abby could hear the knowing smile in Robin's voice. "Ah," he said. "Loopholes."

"You got it," said Abby. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

* * *

"Cyborg, Beast Boy, put that game away," Raven ordered pompously from the top of the stairs. Neither boy responded. She dropped her composure and looked at Starfire. Taking a deep breath, she repeated, "Boys, now's not the time for video games. Your friend needs your help." Again, no reply from the Titans in question. Again, she frowned at Starfire. "I don't get it. Don't they respond when Robin calls them?"

Starfire grinned. "But Raven, you're not saying the right words." Smugly, she reached beside her and pulled a red lever on the wall. An alarm went off and the living room blinked red.

Immediately, the boys were in front of them, ready for orders. "What's the problem," asked Beast Boy.

"Yeah, let's kick some ass!" Cyborg cried.

Raven glanced at Starfire. "Very good," she said. "I never knew you had that in you." Starfire blushed. The boys frowned. "We need your help," Raven explained. "Robin... well, his hallucinations are getting worse. I need to get in his head and patch up a few things. But I can't do it if he won't let me. If it were anyone else, I might have been able to slip past their shield undetected... But Robin is one of the rare people who are mind sensitive, which makes things much more difficult... I'll need your help."

Beast Boy and Cyborg blinked at her. "You interrupted Mortal Combat... because Robin's crazy?" Beast Boy said.

Raven shrugged. "You could put it that way..." Both boys rolled their eyes.

"Come on! I was just about to finally beat him for once!"

"Cyborg, I think this is a _little _more important than video games!" Raven snapped. "Aren't you worried about Robin's sanity?"

"I never thought he was sane to begin with," Beast Boy said, blinking innocently.

Raven scoffed, annoyed. "I mean, honestly, you're not the least bit concerned that Robin's mind is falling apart?"

Again, Beast Boy and Cyborg blinked. "Um... no."

"Hey, he seems fine to me," said Cyborg. "Until he starts cowering in the corner and accusing us of plotting to murder him, I think we can let that be."

"Don't you see?" Raven cried, furiously. Everything in the room, the couch, chairs, the TV, all began to float menacingly in the air. "It's already begun! Robin's accusing me of trying to hurt him and the team! He tried to convince Starfire that I'm evil! I don't look evil to you, do I?"

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow as he watched their espresso maker float between them, engulfed in dark energy. "Uh... do you really want me to answer that right now?"

"Ugh!" Raven exclaimed, snatching her cloak in her fists. The TV cracked and all the light bulbs in the room shattered. Everything else fell to the floor as she stomped off down the hall.

Starfire blinked at Cyborg and Beast Boy, now in the dark. "I think that went rather well, do you agree?"

* * *

"Ray... Ray!"

Abby walked down the hall, poking her heads in rooms. _Shit, I hope I haven't lost him..._

"Ray!" she called. Suddenly, she stopped as she passed the archives. She frowned when she entered, seeing little Ray sitting on one of the filing cabinets, reading through a folder, looking very pale.

Abby sighed. "Ray, _there_ you are, I've been looking all over for you!"

But Ray made no reply as he continued to stare at the file.

"... Hey... Ray... Can you hear me, kid? Um... Raven?" The name tasted strange on her tongue, like some exotic food she'd never heard of. Calling a little boy like that, with his pale skin and dark eyes and hair, disturbed her for some reason. As he sat there, staring at the file, she felt as though she were speaking to a corpse.

Finally, Ray closed the file and looked up at Abby inscrutably. "I paid a visit to an old friend of mine," Ray said. "Dr. Light. He gave me an idea."

"Doctor... he gave you what?" Abby looked surprised. Raven frowned.

"What's wrong, Abby?"

Abby closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "Dr. Light disturbs me. Was that his file?"

Ray looked down at the files in his lap and then up at Abby, his expression blank. "No," he whispered as his only reply.

Abby looked into his eyes, which seemed sad a moment, as he put the file back into a drawer in one of the filing cabinets... titled "R." When Ray straightened again, he looked at Abby.

"But yes, Dr. Light did give me an idea," he said, the sadness in his eyes gone as his voice returned to normal volume. Abby was confused. The change was so sudden, she wondered if she had imagined the curiousness in his expression.

"And are you going to share that idea with me?"

Ray smiled and his eyes were bright. "I don't know if you know this, but a while ago, the other Titans and I battled a man with the alias of Dr. Light. I... well, my powers got a little out of control. I was having some internal conflicts... Anyways, he reminded me... shortly after the battle, Beast Boy was annoyed with me and somehow, his grubby little paws came in contact with _my_ Mind Mirror."

"Beast Boy had a what now?" Abby said, baffled.

Ray chuckled. "Of course, it sounds ridiculous," he said. "But I use that mirror a lot in meditation. It's a place where I can seal away my emotions and bitter thoughts, a... reflection of what's in my head. If they found that mirror now, they would be sucked into it and I could speak with them on my Mental Plain. I could talk to them."

"So... you want them to find a mirror that would help them get into your head?" Abby said. Ray nodded, as if it were quite simple. Abby was still skeptical. "And how, oh brilliant one, do you expect them to do that?"

Ray bit his lip. "I haven't quite figured that out yet," he said.

Abby grinned and raised her eyebrows. "Well, I have," she said, jingling her car keys. "Robin wants to see you."

Understanding, Ray nodded, his face expressionless as he floated out of the room. "I'll get my coat."

Abby watched him leave. When the door closed, her attention turned back to the filing cabinet.

"R, huh," she muttered to herself. "What are you hiding, little guy?"

She pulled open the drawer and looked through it, but there was no file that should have interested the boy. Seeing as he'd only revealed his name to them hours earlier, their slow secretary wouldn't have had time enough to find his "John Doe" file and title it "Ray."

Sighing, she gave up and was about to push the drawer closed when she noticed a file had been put in backwards from the others. Frowning, she pulled it out and looked at the name on the file.

"ROTH, ANGELA," the file said. There was a large red stamp on the front of the vanilla folder: DECEASED.

Silently, she too took a seat atop one of the shorter filing cabinets and skimmed through the file herself, her eyes devouring information like a starving lion.

...Prone to violence... Suffers from manic depression... Severe schizophrenia... symptoms include inability to express emotions, detachment from reality, misinterpretation of fantasy as reality... Prone to incomprehensible ramblings... Neglects daughter... Suicide attempts: 3... Also suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... cause of this unknown, but therapy producing results... masochism

Abby eyed the folder curiously, wondering what on earth Ray could have wanted with such a file...

* * *

There was a tentative knock on Robin's door. He looked up and opened his mouth, about to say "Come in," when he hesitated. Frowning, he said instead, "Who's there?"

"It's me," came the familiar deep voice of Cyborg. "Can I come in, man?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Robin said, turning back to his _London Times_.

Cyborg was tentative as he carefully avoided the miscellaneous junk that littered Robin's floor. "Do you _ever_ clean your room?"

"I'll get around to it," Robin said, highlighting a sentence in the article he was reading. Cyborg nodded.

"Right..." He seemed distracted.

Robin looked up at him, curiously. "You didn't come here to comment on my organizational skills, did you?" he said.

Cyborg bit his lip. "Nah... listen, I came to warn you."

Robin looked surprised. "Warn me? About what?"

"The fact that you don't know makes me glad I came," said Cyborg. "Raven's up to something."

"Is she..." Robin muttered. "What is it now? Do I have Cancer too?"

"Nah," Cyborg said. "It's still just your head. But now she wants to _fix _you. And... I don't know, Rob, somehow that just doesn't sound right."

Robin cocked an eyebrow. "_Fix_ me? What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know," said Cyborg. "I know her intentions are good, but I think it'll do more harm then good..." he seemed uncomfortable. He bit his lip again, and finally burst out with something he looked like he'd been meaning to say for a long time. "Listen, man, even if you are, you know, _sick_, messing with your head's no real way to handle it, in my opinion anyway. Please, Rob, just tell her... tell her you'll get help, that you trust her, that everything's fine, and maybe she'll leave you alone. This whole mental intrusion thing really bothers me. Just tell her that you don't need her in your head, you don't... you don't _want_ her there, please, man, I don't know if I could stand it–"

"Cyborg," Robin interrupted. "It's OK. Raven's... been in my head before."

"But..." Cyborg held his breath. "I don't know, man, something's... _different_ about it this time. I mean, I feel more comfortable around her now and all, and I... I like the change, but something isn't adding up. On the one hand, it all seems to make sense, but on the other... there are gaps missing in the data. It's like when you find a new program on your hard drive and you don't know where it came from. My systems are screaming VIRUS but nothing seems to be wrong. I just have a real bad feeling about having that girl in your head. I really don't think it would be a good idea this time."

"So... you're saying Raven seems different. Better... but worse?" Robin said.

"Uh, yeah," said Cyborg. "I know it doesn't make much sense when I say it, but it did in my head. I don't know." He shook his head. "But... I mean, I trust Raven and all. Especially after that whole incident six months ago. And I want to believe... I _do_ believe that..."

But Robin hushed him as he held up his hand. "Cyborg," he said. "Whatever you believe, I got you. And thanks for the heads up. Remember, man, I always have your back."

"And I always have yours," Cyborg replied with a smile. "Even when you and Raven are mudslinging."

* * *

Ray stomped his feet in the mud in middle of the stony courtyard, looking up at the gray sky.

"Hey!" Abby protested. "Aw, Ray, these were new pants!"

Ray made no response as he sat on a cold bench, kicking his muddy feet back and forth. His head was swirling with flickers of thought. Raven's mind, inside the boy's head, was like a light switch, flicking on and off.

Currently, it was switched off.

He stared blankly at the tall walls that surrounded the courtyard and some distant part of him wondered dimly if any had ever tried to scale them and had fallen to their death.

"Ray?"

The voice did not penetrate the little boy's ears. He looked at her with dead eyes a moment, then turned his attention back to the moss covered walls. It was a cold day, even for October, and a layer of afternoon frost lay over the blades of dead grass. Everything was brown and gray. Nothing new.

Raven's mind flickered on a moment, and the boy shook his head vigorously, almost angrily... and then it was dark again.

"Ray..." Abby sighed, sitting beside him on the bench. She took his hand in a motherly fashion and stroked it soothingly, tenderly. He looked so lonely on that bench, staring off into God knows where. She took him around the shoulders and leaned his head against her chest, rocking him back and forth.

"Ray," she said again. "Sweetie, we have to go see the Titans. Remember? My... my car, and all... Ray? Raven?"

The boy was silent a moment. And then, suddenly, something changed in his demeanor and he snapped out of whatever trance he had been in. He pulled away from Abby viciously, sneering at her.

"Never touch me again," he hissed.

Abby rose to her feet and held her hands up defensively. "It's not my fault you went totally brainless for a moment... Are you OK?"

Ray was trembling and his eyes were wide. He shook his head, his body seeming like it might go into a seizure. "Stiff joints..." he muttered. "This body's been alive longer than it should."

But it was more than that. Abby put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Ray, what's going on?"

He looked at her with horrified eyes. "I never want to feel like that again," he said. "Never. Never."

"What happened?" Abby asked.

But Ray just shook his head again, his body still shaking. "No. No. Not now. We have to go. We might have less time than I thought."


	7. 5:00: Sin City

_**Author's Note:** _Actually, for a change, I really have nothing to say... except thank you. And King Cheetah, I'd love to collaberate with you. E-mail me (see my profile). It'd be a great honor. Also, GothicSarrow/Amanda H.-- thanks for your help. And thanks everyone else, just... thanks. And Instant Coffee. Yay. OK, I'm done.

Oh yeah, and "Sin City" does **not** refer to Vegas. FYI. Just... go with it.

Chapter 7: 5:00: Sin City

5:00

"O...K..."

Abby turned the map upside down, then looked up at the tall sky scrapers surrounding them. Smiling sheepishly, she turned to Ray, sitting on the bench, a very irked expression on his face.

"Ray, sweetie? I think we're lost."

"I _told_ you to take the _Blue_ line. But what did you say? 'No, no, Red goes _right_ to the wharves. We can get to the Tower from there _easy_!' What the hell were you thinking?"

"So I don't know the subway system as well as I used to," Abby said with a shrug. Suddenly, something caught her eye. "Heeeey, how 'bout I make it up to you? Like, buying you some clothes maybe?"

Ray looked behind him at the store window he was standing in front of and shook his head vigorously. "Oh no, Abby, not now, we don't have time!"

Abby scoffed. "We have plenty of time," she said. "Come on, Ray. You're a kid!"

"I'm a teenager," Ray corrected.

"No," said Abby pointedly. "At this moment, you're a kid. So act your age for once and have some fun! You've been way too stressed out lately over this-this-"

"Life or death, save friends from total mental annihilation situation?"

"Yeah," said Abby. "It's not so bad, really."

"Riiiight," said Ray, slowly, nodding his head up and down. "Mental oblivion. Not so bad."

"Hey," said Abby, putting her hands on her hips seriously. "If you have time to argue with me, you have time to go shopping."

"Hey!" Ray said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "Maybe we can argue and shop at the same time and save time!"

"Sounds good to me," said Abby with a grin, snatching Ray's hand. "Now come on, buy two get one free in the shoe section!"

And with a baffled look on his face, Abby succeeded in dragging the young boy into the department store.

* * *

"Friend Cyborg?" 

The half-robot was gazing out at the city skyline, but looked up at the friendly call and smiled at her. "Hey, Star, how are you doing?"

"I am doing well, thank you..." she replied, then frowned. "I always found that a peculiar expression. What exactly am I supposed to be doing well?"

"I don't know," said Cyborg, as if he'd never thought of it before. "You just kind of... do, don't you?"

"I do or I don't?"

"You don't. I mean, do. You just do. I don't think you can really do not... Can you not do? Or do not well?"

"I believe it is possible to not do well," said Starfire.

"Right," said Cyborg. "But you can't do not well."

"This conversation would be better suited for someone who understands your language in the first place." Starfire bit her lip. "But what is wrong with _you_ my friend? Are you doing not well– or not doing well?"

Cyborg sighed. "I'm fine, I guess. My circuits are jumping up and down, but otherwise things seem pretty normal... don't they?"

"You are asking me. Why are you asking me?" Starfire's eyes were wide. "Is this a test?"

"No," said Cyborg, looking back across the sea. "Something's... I mean, well... everything... is not wrong."

"Not wrong..." Starfire muttered. "Is this like doing not well?"

Cyborg chuckled. "Not wrong, doing not well... I guess you could say it's a lot like that. I mean, things work, you get the meaning and all the important parts, but it just doesn't sound right, does it? It seems right, and technically, it is in some ways... but when it comes down to it, it's really not, grammatically anyway, where it counts. There's a better way to phrase it."

"You are confusing me," Starfire said. Cyborg laughed again.

"Yeah," he said. "You have a right to be confused. Come over here, Starfire." She allowed him to take her hand and guide her to stand beside him. "Look at that. Jump City. Our city. Everything's so peaceful, isn't it?"

"It seems so," she said.

"But it's not," Cyborg said. "There's a lot of crime going on at this very second just in that one city."

Starfire was alarmed. "What? But we must avenge it!"

"Easy, Starfire," Cyborg said with a smile. "I mean like pickpockets. Car-jackings. Muggings. Petty crime. It never stops. Not in a city like this one."

"I assume there is a point that you are to come to eventually? What is wrong, perhaps? Yes?"

Cyborg paused as he frowned and held his breath. "No," he said finally.

"No?"

"No," said Cyborg. "And... Everything is not wrong."

"And... this is a good thing?"

Cyborg turned to her, still frowning. "Star... honestly... I'm not sure."

"What are you saying!" Starfire exclaimed. "You are being quite mysterious!"

He looked at her solemnly. "It feels like someone's been changing our sentences around."

* * *

"Um... What are you doing?" 

"Baking."

"Why do I have a feeling that's a bad thing?"

Beast Boy grinned at Raven over his shoulder as he stirred the dough. "I don't know. It could be."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "And exactly what does this baking experience pertain to?"

Beast Boy shrugged as he poured rice into the mixture. "I don't know," he said. "Everyone's seemed a little stressed out. Actually, I guess I did this for you."

Raven looked surprised. "M-me? But why?"

"Well," said Beast Boy, gritting his teeth as he tried to stir the strange concoction. He frowned as he let go of the spatula and it stuck straight up into the air. "You've been... strange lately, haven't you? Angrier, but... happier. More comfortable around us but... more scared. I don't know. I thought maybe some rice cakes would make you calm down. Uh, there's no eggs in here, FYI. You know."

Raven picked up a box and looked at it warily. "You put baking soda in rice cakes?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "You think I know how to make rice cakes?"

Raven smiled as she closed her eyes and nodded, as if she should have known better. Then she opened her eyes and frowned at him, putting the box down. "You're baking for me?"

"Yeah," said Beast Boy with that goofy smile of his. "You looked like you could use it. How about you stop worrying about Robin going psycho on us a while and just chill and eat some rice cakes."

"Robin..." and her eyes turned cold. "I don't have time to relax."

But Beast Boy pushed her down into a kitchen chair. "There's always time to relax."

"You don't understand," said Raven. _Your simple mind never could_, thought Larkin. "I have to get Robin under control before he does anything stupid."

Beast Boy simply raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Rae, he's been locked in his room all day. You really think he's gonna go anywhere?"

Inside Raven, Larkin thought a moment. _The changeling does have a point..._ With Robin locked away from the others in his room, all Larkin had to do was wait until eleven o'clock when the effects would be permanent. Yes... Robin could wait.

Relaxing, she leaned back in her seat and smiled. "I suppose you have a point. So what is this strange new culinary delight you have concocted?"

Beast Boy looked at the mixture dubiously. "Um... well, if you put hot tabasco and orange juice in it, it's no longer cake at all, is it?"

Raven calmly raised her eyebrows. "You do know that 'rice cake' isn't the flour, sugar, frosting kind of cake, don't you?"

"Uh..." Beast Boy stepped away from the mixture and looked at it warily, then turned to Raven confused. "It's not?"

Raven bit her lip and eyed the red bottle by Beast Boy's elbow. "Tabasco," she said with a sigh. "And what other treats does the tongue await to test in that mixture?"

Beast Boy chuckled and said, "I don't know, why don't you try it and find out."

"Beast Boy, I'm sorry, but anything involving orange juice and tabasco is already a no for me. I, er, don't exactly have the highest tolerance for five alarm chilli sauce, if you know what I mean."

Beast Boy nodded. "I gotchya. Fortunately, _someone_ in this tower knows how to hold his spicy food. Step aside, watch, and be amazed!"

Daringly, he dipped a spoon into the mixture and opened his mouth.

"At least with you, one thing's for sure," Raven said, eying Beast Boy with quiet mirth. "No animals were harmed in the making of this monstrosity. Well, not yet, anyway."

* * *

"Well," said Ray indignantly, standing on the busy street corner. "That was a total waste of half an hour." 

"Waste?!" Abby exclaimed. "What are you talking about? I got me not one, not two, but _three_ pairs of shoes and a cute skirt to boot!"

Ray cocked an eyebrow at her. "Uh... huh... Tell me again how that's not a waste of time?"

"Hey," said Abby, "don't treat me like I never did anything for you. Who paid for that Red Sox hat, eh? Eh?"

Ray frowned up at her from under the brim of his new baseball cap. "Yeah... thanks," he said flatly.

"Come on!" Abby exclaimed. "This was no more a waste of time than sitting around at the hospital rifling through dead files of people you have no right to be–"

"I have _every_ right!" Ray snapped angrily, practically at Abby's throat. Abby frowned at him.

"What's wrong with you Ray, huh? Who is Angela Roth?"

"None of your business," Ray muttered, looking away into the gutter.

"Ray, if I'm going to help you, you're gonna have to trust me," Abby said, kneeling down on the sidewalk next to him. Ray sighed and looked her straight in the eye.

"You wanna know who Angela Roth was? She was a failure, a masochist, a nut job. She was a wreck, totally screwed up by the sadistic _torture_ my father put her through. She was a manicurist at a salon once who had a thing for dark nights and cocain. Worse, she liked to dabble in things she had no business dabbling in. Such things brought my father closer to her. Angela Roth, Abby, was my mother, and more than anything, anything, I never want to end up like she did, do you hear me? I watched her mind dribble out through her ears, nose mouth, any where it could escape from her thick skull. I watched it as she hastened the effort with narcotics. I watched as she hurt herself, day after day, the scars on her arms and legs, the rope burns around her neck after the pills didn't work. I listened to her bang her head against the wall when she locked me in the basement in the dark for days on end. You think you deal with the insane, Abby, I lived with it. And not just my mother. It surrounded me. _She_ surrounded me. But worst of all, so did _he_. _He _was the root of the true madness. He made my mother think the house was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. He made me believe that it was my fault. My mother was a failure, a crazy, drunken failure. And that's all they said in her obituary when she slit her own throat with the kitchen knife she had just finished making me a ham sandwich with. Me and the undertaker were the only ones at her funeral, and let me tell you, even _he_ didn't want to be there. He could feel the evil radiating from her like raw heat. And let me tell you, Abby, that kind of evil? It burns."

* * *

"AH! IT BURNS!" 

Raven could not help but chuckle at the sight of the shape shifter changing forms from one animal to another as if it would stop the scalding sensation taking over his taste buds. He ran around the house like the Roadrunner eluding Wile Coyote waving at his out-hanging tongue.

Finally (Larkin couldn't help it) Raven reached for the tabasco bottle. Unthinkingly, Beast Boy snatched it and chugged it only to come to an immense shock. Spewing red everywhere, he ran to the sink and stuck his head under the faucet.

By now, the normally controlled Raven was in hysterics and as a result of this strong emotion, the tap broke and the water sprayed Beast Boy full in the face like a sprinkler.

The kid sat up, spitting like a cat, but more from the water that had drenched him than anger. Through it all, he was still smiling. Raven shook her head in subtle wonder.

"You funny little green man," she said flatly.

Beast Boy turned into a dog and shook himself, successfully drenching Raven in the process. True to the Raven they all knew and loved, her face showed nothing but mute annoyance as she kicked the dog. In return, he jumped on her and began to lick her face.

"Agh! Get off me!" Raven declared, throwing the dog into the living room.

As he rolled into the coffee table, the canine cringed and whimpered. Swiftly, he was in his usual form. "Damn, Raven, I didn't know you were _that_ strong."

Raven smiled mysteriously. "There's a lot you don't know about me Beast Boy." She noticed he was cradling his arm and, to Larkin's internal surprise, frowned in genuine concern. "Did I throw you too hard?"

"No, no..." Beast Boy muttered, looking at his arm. Raven gasped as she noticed a large gash on it. Hearing her, Beast Boy looked up. "Chill, it's OK... Ow."

"I'm sorry," she said, kneeling down to get a closer look at the wound. "I can fix it if you like."

"Yeah, sure," he said.

She went to the kitchen to get a cloth and antiseptic and returned. "Um, you might wanna give me your arm," she said after she had waited a while watching him cradle it with a small pout.

Slowly, he held it out to her, and she dabbed at the wound.

"Ow! Hey, don't touch it!"

"Stop being such a wuss. Hold still..." She bit her lip and he grit his teeth as she cleaned it. Smiling, she leaned back with a sigh and looked at her handiwork. "There. I'm gonna wrap it for a bit, OK? Just until the blood stops and the antiseptic's done its work."

"Yeah, whatever," Beast Boy mumbled.

As she wrapped it, she could feel Beast Boy's eyes on her and looked up at him, skeptically. "What?"

"Nothing!" said Beast Boy with a shrug. "It's just... I never knew you played doctor."

Raven frowned, unamused. "Not funny."

Beast Boy, goofy grin in place, merely shook his head. "On the contrary, I find it hilarious."

She hit him, but this time lightly as she cracked a small smile. "You're a card."

"Card? Wow, I didn't know people still used that word."

"They do where I'm from," said Raven.

"I also don't remember the last time you complimented me, Raven," Beast Boy said with a mocking grin.

"Oh, come off it," Raven muttered. "I've... complimented you before, I'm sure. I do like you... don't I?"

"You tell me," Beast Boy said with a shrug, leaning back against the couch.

Raven sat up and thought a minute. She frowned. "You're comical..." Beast Boy grinned. "Good for a laugh, especially to laugh at." The grin disappeared. "You remember to have fun, which is a good thing... You aren't entirely aware of your surroundings, which can be irksome when I'm trying to get your attention... But that's just you. You remind me that life isn't full of responsibilities. We are children– kids. We should act like kids. So yes, I suppose I do like you."

"Well," said Beast Boy with a grin. "I'm glad that after all the years we've spent together, you've finally made that decision."

"That didn't take me years," said Raven with a genuine smile. "Merely a couple of hours."

* * *

Abby stared blankly at the fuming little boy before her. 

"Oh," she said curtly. "Well. Maybe we should find that metro station again?"

Ray was breathing hard as he clutched a bench to keep stable. Too weak to speak, he simply nodded.

"Oh honey," said Abby, kneeling down next to him and putting his arm over her shoulder to support him. "Something funny going on in your head again?"

He closed his eyes, swallowed, and nodded. "I... I shouldn't have... shouldn't have got all worked up about... about..."

"I gotchya," Abby said, sympathetically. "I don't think you're up to this excursion, sweetie. I don't know why I brought you. You're obviously sick–"

"_No!_" Ray hissed angrily, throwing Abby's arm off of him. "I will not go back there. If I ever go back there, it'll be to stay. And I don't want to stay there. Please, Abby... if I die, let it be with my friends. Even if they don't believe me... please, just let me be there."

Slowly, Abby nodded. "I don't think this is such a good idea anymore, Ray..."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" the boy asked curiously. "You... you said you believe me. You know I'm Raven."

Abby was startled. "I... I don't know, I... habit, I guess. At the hospital, it made more sense..."

"Whatever," Ray said, shaking his head. "We need to go."

"We do indeed," Abby agreed. She took his hand and led him to the nearest Metro station.


	8. 6:00: By Candlelight

**_Author's Note (I'm baaaaack):_** Grumbumble: haha, I'm glad I remind you of Phillip Pullman! His books are brilliant works. That's a great compliment, thanks. And Heather... I'll talk to you later. Everyone else, thanks a lot for keeping up with this. You make me happy.

Chapter 8: 6:00: By Candlelight

6:00

Robin leaned back in his desk, reading the old _London Times_ over and over, looking for any hint of Larkin. From what information he had gained from Abby, the boy Ray had claimed that someone evil was possessing Raven's body, and his only suspect was Larkin. It was all making sense... especially what Raven had said to him in his room before Ray had even arrived. And when Ray had been there...

Suddenly, his bulb went out.

Looking up at it, annoyed, Robin remembered the distinct feeling that had overcome him the moment he'd stepped into the living room and seen that little boy. It was one of sudden recognition and relief, as if he'd known the boy his whole life and had somehow been missing him... But Robin had never seen the kid before in his life. Most of all, standing beside Raven's body, he could _feel_ her again... but the aura hadn't been coming from the telekinetic beside him. So the only explanation was that Ray must be telling the truth...

But then, he thought how ridiculous that sounded. Larkin and Raven, switching bodies? Who had ever heard of such a thing? Who had ever dreamed it possible?

And then... he thought of Starfire. _"Robin, why does everything always have to be so bad?"_ Was it really all in his head? He admitted, it was possible. He'd never doubted a friend so much in his life... and she seemed fine enough...

But no. What was that she had said to him, standing in his room as the doorbell rang? _"Clever Robbie..."_ Robbie. Who the hell called him 'Robbie?' Definitely not Raven.

Robin bit his lip as he looked at his digital clock by his bedside, blinking eights.

"I really need new batteries for that thing..." he muttered.

He hoped that Abby and the boy would arrive soon. Soon, he'd find out once and for all, who was lying... and who was telling the truth.

* * *

Alone in Raven's room, Larkin threw her bureau against the wall, furiously.

"Things are not going to plan..." he muttered. "But at least that fool Raven is out of my way. I now have a firm friendship in both Starfire and Beast Boy."

Yes, a firm friendship. Which would make it all the easier to use them.

But was this all going to his head? He had never had friends himself, even as a boy, they'd all been more of underlings. He had called many of his followers by different, degrading names, and rightfully so. They were all mindless sheep, anyway. But never had he been insulted in return, even in jest, yet he and Beast Boy had just shared a very amusing moment in which both were throwing meaningless words back and forth to cover the different, serious emotions felt in that room with something lighter. Beast Boy really cared for him... or for Raven, at least.

He didn't know why, but that thought particularly bothered him.

Shaking his head in anger, he pushed thoughts of long-term friendship aside. Whether or not they were worthy enough to be considered his equal was beside the point. They would, eventually, do his bidding. Whether they wanted to or not.

Strangely, the plan now held less satisfaction than it once did. To see such wonderful personalities lost seemed somewhat sad...

Yes, Larkin thought. _Sad indeed. What pathetic wastes of lives they are. They shall be put to better use when I am done with them._

Beast Boy and Starfire had two fatal flaws: they were good people. And how Larkin despised good people. He'd made that mistake before. When Raven had come to him, despite what she said of her past, he could feel the good inside her overwhelm the evil she was brought up with and born to control. Against all odds, ironically the child was one of the light, and not of the darkness she commanded. _That_ was a sad instance. To lose such great power to such naivete, whims of saving the world.

We can't all save the world.

On the contrary, some opt to destroy it.

There was nothing there worth saving anyway.

Sighing, Larkin fell into Raven's desk chair and jumped up again as he'd sat on some books.

The books were spread everywhere across the desk's surface and the chair, as well as even the floor. Someone had conducted a search here earlier.

Smiling to himself, Larkin lifted up Raven's edition of _An Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and the Supernatural_ and flipped through it. About to lay it down again, he paused as he noticed a leather bound book that had been resting right beneath it. Frowning in curiosity, he couldn't contain himself.

To his surprise, he found that it was a photo album, full of pictures of her and her friends. In most of them, she was hiding in the background, or had some unhappy expression on her face. He smiled. The Raven he had known as a child had once loved to have her picture taken. After her personality had been modified, she'd despised the invention of the camera. Perhaps she was ashamed of herself, of what she had allowed Larkin to do.

"They say rape victims often undergo a similar experience," Larkin thought aloud. "Violation, whatever the sort, is always traumatizing. Especially violation of the mind, one's own inner sanctum."

But as Larkin looked closer at the pictures, he could always see the hint of a smile behind Raven's cold eyes. And in every picture, she was always surrounded by her friends. No matter how unhappy she seemed about it outwardly, there was always that sparkle in her eyes that Larkin didn't remember from her childhood. Not since before she had lost touch with her most passionate personalities.

Raven never had that happiness with him.

Infuriated, he threw the album against the wall, cracking plaster.

She would pay. In the end, she would wish that she had stayed with him and been obedient. Good can easily be beaten out of a person eventually, no matter how powerful it rested within her. He could have won. And together, they could have been happy...

Larkin closed his eyes and wished for the day to end. Quietly, he knew, at eleven o'clock, it finally would.

* * *

On the underground train, Ray shivered.

"Ray, honey, do you need a jacket?" Abby asked, in the middle of taking hers off. But he shook his head.

"Larkin's... he's confused. He's denying something... Lying. Again. It's particularly strong. I can feel it."

"What's he lying about?" Abby asked. "And who too?"

Ray merely shook his head helplessly. "I don't know, I just know this is a very bad lie. It's so obvious, he's trying too hard to cover it up. And Robin's getting anxious."

"You don't by chance get Jerry Springer with that antenna, do you?" Abby asked, tilting her head at Ray. The boy scowled at her.

"When you get inside someone's head, you tend to know them, alright?" Ray snapped. "It's not like I wanted this. This thing is more of a burden than a blessing."

"So you know what they're feeling? At all points of the day?"

"Hell no," Ray said. "If I knew that, I'd go insane. Shouldering the weight of _their_ emotions with my own? The world would be gone by sunrise. No, no, I only feel it when it's particularly strong. Rage, sorrow, fear... those, mostly."

"Does... Robin know about this?" Abby asked. "That you can... feel him I mean?"

Ray looked away. "I never told him," he whispered. "The way we were linked... it was an accident. I didn't want to worsen the power and tell him about the consequences. I was... I guess I was a little embarrassed. If I knew his emotions, then that means he could know mine."

"Um, I hate to say it..." Abby said, "but if it happens to everyone, wouldn't he have found out on his own?"

"He wouldn't know what it was when he _did_ feel me," Ray said, almost condescendingly. "The mind is a very complicated tool, and too mysterious. How's he, of all people, supposed to understand how it works when it took me years of study?"

Abby pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, as if she thought Ray were making a mistake. "I think you underestimate him..."

"Do I?" Ray snapped, turning quickly to glare at her. "And how would you know? I know him better than you do, and longer."

"Maybe," said Abby. "But I spoke to him today. He sounded so convinced of your story. It sounded like he really... as you put it, '_felt_' you."

Ray merely sniffed and folded his arms, looking away from Abby. "I underestimate no one."

"Actually, I think you underestimate everyone," Abby returned. "Robin, this Larkin fellow, hell, even me."

"You?" Ray said with a scoff. "Of course, this is a personal matter, I should have known."

"See!" Abby exclaimed. "Always assuming I'm so shallow, so ignorant of everything, so untrusting. I trust you, Ray. I'm risking my _job_ for you. I understand the things you tell me. And I _do_ get how _important_ this is to you!" Ray said nothing, and Abby sighed in annoyance. "Fine then!" she said, in a childlike manner. "Well, I don't want to talk to you either!"

"Good," Ray muttered.

"Well, good!" Abby snapped, folding her arms. "Memo to self: the next time some ranting lunatic kid saying some guy stole his body comes into Sun Oak's, leave him alone!"

* * *

She was sitting on a rock, attempting to skip stones across the water when Larkin found her.

"What's troubling you, dear Starfire?" he said warmly with Raven's voice, taking a seat next to her. Starfire jumped, seemingly surprised to see the telekinetic.

"Friend Raven!" she cried. "I did not expect you to find me down here."

Raven laughed. "Yeah, well, I did."

"Beast Boy has informed me of the fun you and he created today in the kitchen."

Raven laughed. "Ah yes, just a bit of culinary fun," she said.

"Indeed..." Starfire muttered, throwing another stone. It sank. She frowned, sadly. "I always enjoyed the physics involved in this activity..." she said, dully.

Raven raised an eyebrow at the alien skeptically. "Physics? You're sitting out here, under the gray sky and setting sun, all by yourself, thinking about the physics of skipping stones?"

Starfire turned to look at her, confused. "You make it sound as though it is a pitiful pastime."

Raven chuckled. "Here, Star, let me show you how to skip a stone." She concentrated a moment, then, suddenly, dots of black energy scattered the surface of the water. Slowly, one by one, all the flat stones arose from the water.

Starfire gasped in delight as the stones piled at her feet. Raven grinned at her happiness.

"Here," she said, lifting a stone. She threw it across the water where it skipped five or six times. Starfire was elated.

"Oh joy!" she cried. "Mine rarely exceeds a second jump! You are truly talented."

"When I was a... child, I used to skip stones often down by a lake near my summer cottage," said Raven, watching the water. She threw another stone and it skipped across the water skillfully.

Starfire frowned. "I never knew you had such a fun childhood," Starfire said.

Raven laughed. "I didn't," she said. "Skipping stones by yourself is a sign of loneliness. I did it when my parents were arguing over what to do with me. They tended to throw things. It made me upset, so to clear my head, I'd go down by the lake."

"Your parents argued?" Starfire said, aghast.

"Yes," said Raven, throwing another stone.

Starfire joined her, her stone now skipping twice. She grinned.

"I was... a special kid. Reclusive. No friends. Very smart. They always argued about whether or not I should go to a special school. Then, one day, my father ended up dead somehow and I was sent to one. I fit in less there than anywhere else. My mother was imprisoned when I was twelve. And that's when I learned to make it on my own."

"I... this does not make sense. You have not seen your mother in a few years?" Starfire said.

Raven blinked at her. "Huh? No, I haven't seen her since... Oh," she said, as if realizing something depressing. "Yes. I suppose, I was with Larkin then, leaving him... after two years of his gracious hospitality."

"But you said you were with your mother before she went to prison..." Starfire said, frowning.

"Let's not linger on the details, shall we?" Raven said quickly. "The point is, I never had anyone I could love. Eventually, I taught people to like me, adore me, even worship me. But they didn't _love_ me." Raven shivered as if she was cold. "Eventually, I decided love was for those less worthy. As long as I had power, I didn't need love. And then, Ra– I mean, Larkin walked into my life. And somehow, I was whole again. He taught me everything. We learned much from each other. And then, in a fit of coldheartedness, I turned on him, because I learned that he wouldn't allow me to get revenge on my father."

"You said your father was dead?" Starfire said.

"I mean, my mother," Raven corrected quickly. "Revenge on my mother. For killing my father. Don't interrupt. I... Larkin was only looking out for my best interests. I would have been safe with him, secure, and powerful. I should have done anything for him. He was more of a parent to me than anyone. I should have... I should have loved him. But it seems I am incapable of love. Both the giving and receiving of it. I cannot love, nor can I be loved. I suppose it is an inconvenience that I've learned to live with."

Starfire was silent a moment as she looked at Raven skeptically. "But... Raven. You are loved."

Raven looked up at her, an unreadable expression in her eyes. She said nothing, though she looked as though her eyes wanted to say much.

"You are loved," Starfire repeated. "And I believe, inside you, that you do love us too."

* * *

Beast Boy glanced at Cyborg fleetingly, then looked back at the video screen.

"So you don't believe her?"

"I don't know..." Cybrog muttered. "I remember how much trouble we got in not believing her before..."

"Exactly," Beast Boy said, twisting his controller to the side as if it would avoid his plane crashing into a building. "Aw, man!"

As the game ended, Cyborg didn't even seem interested as he looked at Beast Boy, who was staring dumbstruck at the screen. "It's just... something ain't right, man. My circuits are jumping up and down, trying to get me to notice something... I thought, maybe I was sick, but all systems are up and go, and biologically speaking I'm pretty cool too, so... Well, and Robin... you really think Robin could be nuts? I mean, sure, he does kinda act like it, but I mean, as nuts as Raven says he is? I don't know, dawg, something's just... not exactly... wrong... but... Aw, man, I'm talking like an idiot again. I guess I'm just askin'... So you do believe it? The whole story?"

Beast Boy's eyes didn't leave the rolling credits of the screen as the game replied their battle. "Dude..." he said. "I don't believe it."

"You too, eh..." Cyborg muttered.

"Totally!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "I mean, all day, I never thought it was possible."

"So you never believed it," Cyborg said, sounding optimistic. "So I'm not the only one?"

Beast Boy looked from the screen to Cyborg and shrugged, looking baffled. "I guess so, man. But seriously..." He put a kind hand on Cyborg's shoulder, almost condescendingly. "You're not _that_ bad today, dude. You gotta have _some_ confidence."

"Huh?" Cyborg declared, bewildered. "BB, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Huh?" Beast Boy repeated. "You... wait, what are _you_ talking about?" he asked, accusingly.

"Dude, I'm talking about Raven and Robin! What are _you_ talking about?"

Beast Boy gestured from the screen to Cyborg, his lips moving, but no words coming out. Finally, he burst out. "You just beat the crap outa me for the first time all day and you didn't even notice!"

"Huh?" Cyborg said, frowning, as he looked at the screen in confusion. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and a gleeful smile took over his features. "BOOYAH!" he cried. He then commenced in his victory dance around the couch, much to Beast Boy's displeasure. "I beat you! Uh huh! Oh yeah! I killed Beast Boy! Damn straight! Uh huh!"

"Yeah, yeah," Beast Boy muttered, scratching his head. "I get the picture."

* * *

She stood in the doorway of his room undaunted by his silhouette, shrouded in the safety of shadows. She smiled at him.

"Robin," she said.

"Raven," he replied, simply, in a disbelieving voice.

Raven shook her head, making a clicking sound with her tongue. "Tisk, tisk, Robin, you still don't believe me, do you?" she said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.

The room was invaded by blackness.

Silence a moment, then the sound of something striking sandpaper. A tiny star of defiance was kindled on the head of a match and Robin held it to his face, illuminating his mad eyes before he lit a candle on his desk.

"Don't you have lights in here?" Raven asked critically, flicking a nearby switch. She frowned as she commenced in repeating the process, as if the light would be revived by the futile action.

"Bulb's burnt out," Robin said, needlessly.

"No wonder," Raven muttered. "You've had it on all day, scrutinizing papers and books... your eyes must be as wide as a opossum's right now."

In the flickering candle light, Larkin could see with Raven's eyes a sparkle of a white– was that a fang?– reflecting from Robin's grim smile.

Something didn't feel right.

"Robin..." she said, in a tone of a kind, patronizing mother who knew her child had done wrong. "What have you done?"

He picked up a book. "Been doing a little light reading," Robin replied. "Decided I'm not crazy."

"Oh?" Raven said with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows. "And what made you come to this conclusion?"

Robin licked his finger and opened the book, turning a page. He began to read. "'And so, among the many consequences of a Meeting of Minds is the Mind Link, a bond that lasts a lifetime between participants. The threads that link mind and body intertwine with the second mind, sensing emotions, fears and pains. If somehow, these threads are broken, something is wrong with the Other Mind. Perhaps it is dead. Or perhaps, it is not what it seems.'"

"And this has to do with what, exactly?" Raven inquired, raising her eyebrows.

Robin closed the book and threw it on top of his desk. "Raven, you're not what you seem," he said.

"Aren't I?" Raven asked, shrugging. "I mean, Robin, Mind Links are only legend. They are very rare. I was only in your head for ten minutes. It wasn't enough time to forge a life-long bond."

"This book begs to differ," Robin said. "And so does my head." He walked around his desk and leaned on it, eying Raven in the candlelight. "You're right. I was being ridiculous when I said I couldn't feel anything from you anymore. Because I could. It just wasn't Raven.

"There was more than one person in my head that night. There was Raven... and then there was you."

"I am Raven," the girl said slowly.

Robin laughed. "Oh please, just drop the charade, will you? I should have known it from the start. The way you can freeze a room when you walk into it, the sheer power resonating from you like rays from the sun, the ominous chills that run up and down my spine... it's you. Of course. Charles Larkin."

Silence consumed them again and the tension rose. Robin heard the sound of metal on metal out of the darkness Raven cloaked herself with.

"I've already told them you're crazy," Raven said in a low voice. "They believed that readily enough. I wonder how they'll handle your suicide."


	9. 7:00: Crazy

**_Author's Note:_** Some specific revelations in this chapter and some dialogue may seem irrelevant and/or unexpected/unbelievable, however I do insist that I AM going places with these seemingly-pointless facts.  Not only are a lot of them used to mold character and serve as a good subplot (not to mention gives me things to do with characters when I dunno what to do with them) but also... well, you shall see.  Happy reading.  And Happy belated Halloween.  And Happy Thanksgiving.  And Happy Ramadan.  And Happy Eid.  And, what the hell, in case I forget or don't get the chance-- Happy Christmas to boot.

Chapter 9: 7:00: Crazy

7:00

"Would you cut it out already?" Beast Boy cried, annoyed. Cyborg stopped, his victory now somehow hollow.

"You're right," Cyborg said, falling back on the couch. "It's kinda... pointless, now. I mean... I beat you. Now what?"

Beast Boy sat down next to Cyborg, staring at the screen blankly. "I dunno..."

"We could watch a movie..." Cyborg offered.

"Player's broken," Beast Boy said. "And the cable's out."

"I've been meaning to fix that thing..." Cyborg muttered.

"And pay the bills..." Beast Boy said. "We could... play Super Sharp Ninja Nine..."

"I beat that game last week..." Cyborg replied.

"Yeah, me too," said Beast Boy.

The boys sat in silence a moment, looking at the screen. Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to both of them at the same time.

"Oh God..." said Cyborg, in realization as he looked at Beast Boy.

"You mean..." Beast Boy replied, sitting up in terror.

"We have to _talk_!" Cyborg cried.

"No way!" Beast Boy said. "Has it come to that?"

But they just sat in silence longer.

"So... how does this conversation thing go anyway?" Beast Boy asked after a moment.

"I dunno," Cyborg said with a shrug. "I mean, we talk..."

"Yeah, but we also do other things at the same time... I can't just... _focus_ on a conversation!" Beast Boy folded his arms, pouting.

Cyborg bit his lip. "We could... talk about Raven?"

"Again?" Beast Boy said. "I thought we settled that conversation. Dead and buried. She's fine and Robin's got the crazies."

"I think they're _both_ crazy," Cyborg snapped.

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Cy... have you spent _any_ time with her all day?"

"I... uh... no... but..."

"Exactly," Beast Boy said. "I have. She's different, sure, but she's just as cool– if not cooler. And... she actually enjoys spending time with me."

"You see, that right _there_ tells me something's not right," Cyborg said.

"Hey!" Beast Boy declared. "Is it so _hard_ do accept that Raven might actually have fun with me?"

"OK, let me think how many contradictory statements a sentence can have before it's considered totally psychotic..." Cyborg said. "Hm... Raven... fun... with Beast Boy... that's three, right there..."

"Oh shut up," Beast Boy snapped. "You're just jealous 'cause she likes me and not you!"

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "Yes, Beast Boy. I'm jealous of _you_. Maybe you're right. Raven isn't the crazy one. _You _are!"

Beast Boy folded his arms and pouted. "I like things as they are, OK? Don't go meddling, Cyborg, because everything is great. Things are good, people are content, why can't you let sleeping dogs lie?"

"Because people _aren't_ content!" Cyborg said. "Look at Robin! Has he come out of his room _once_ today, other than the time he saw that kid come over? And about that kid–"

"That _kid_," Beast Boy interrupted. "Was a live-in patient at an _insane asylum_! You're gonna believe a wack job over one of your own best friends? Do you remember where that got you last time?"

"I remember," Cyborg said, calming down. "All too well. I also remember the fear in Robin's eyes when he told us what happened all those months ago. He saw something in that little head of his, Beast Boy, and whatever it was scared the hell out of him. He's got that same look, BB. I saw it when I went in there to talk to him."

"Aw, no, man, don't _do_ this!" Beast Boy screamed, putting his hands over his ears and shaking his head violently. "I _like_ Raven, dude, how she _is_, I _accept_ her and her quirks and... and we had _fun_ today! Whoever I spent an hour with today wasn't evil, Cyborg! I would _know_! She was..." All of a sudden, Beast Boy was lost for words as he stared at something at the wall. "She was..." Suddenly, he turned to Cyborg, angry again. "That was the first time in all the years I've known her that I actually remember her laughing at any of my jokes– _openly_! And I don't mean that fluttery pink Raven we saw inside that mirror, I mean the _real_ Raven. She... She was happy, Cyborg, really happy, and now you want to go and ruin that by accusing her of lying!"

"I don't want to accuse her of lying," Cyborg protested. "I don't want to _accuse_ her of anything, at least not yet. I never meant that Raven was the problem. All I'm saying is, something isn't right. Raven's showing more emotion, Robin's showing less of himself, and something in the air just doesn't _breathe _right. I'm as much Raven's friend as you are, and I'd follow her to the ends of the earth if it took us that far, you know that. I doubted her once, and that was a mistake, and I told myself I never would again. I don't want to condemn her without evidence, Beast Boy, but I don't want to condemn Robin either. What do we have that tells us he's insane?"

"Raven's word!" Beast Boy cried.

"Exactly!" Cyborg grinned and pointed at Beast Boy, as if he'd finally made his point. "That's all we have to go on. And granted, it's a reliable source, what with her knowledge of brains and all, but she's been acting a little wacky herself, hasn't she? Something is _wrong_ here, Beast Boy, and I can't figure out, for the life of me, just what the hell it is!"

"Maybe it's you!" Beast Boy declared, jumping to his feet. "You overgrown trash can!"

Rather than take this as an insult, Cyborg merely frowned. "Or..." he said. "Maybe... it's all of us."

Confused by the statement, but unwilling to show it, Beast Boy opened his mouth to fire back another defensive insult when the alarm sounded. Both boys looked around, bewildered.

"Raven again?" Cyborg asked, curiously.

"Nah," Beast Boy said. "I think this is the real deal."

* * *

Larkin paused as the echo of a siren drifted into the room and the crack under Robin's began to flash red.

Robin frowned at the door himself, then looked back to Raven impassively. "Hey," he said. "Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll die in battle." He walked swiftly to the door, threw it open, and walked out, leaving Larkin to stare furiously behind him.

"One can only hope," he muttered, before following the teenage boy to the living room.

For a change, it was Starfire who greeted the other four and explained the situation. It seemed Mumbo Jumbo had somehow made a cat in a tree disappear and was threatening to do the same to the Jump City Bank.

Robin stared at Starfire, unblinking a moment. Finally, he sighed. "Well, this couldn't have come at a worse time," he said.

"Mm, indeed," Raven muttered, eying him intently.

He ignored her and looked to his other friends. "Come on, Titans," he said, unenthusiastic. "Let's go."

His friends watched him drag his feet over to the elevator. Raven sighed, then joined him without a word, leaving the other three Titans behind.

"I said something wrong?" Starfire asked, wide-eyed, looking from Cyborg to Beast Boy. "They are angry with me, yes?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg sighed collectively.

"Stop doing that!" Starfire cried, stamping her feet on the ground. "With the apathy and the act of exhaling dispassionately... It is unpleasing!"

The boys raised an eyebrow at Starfire curiously before joining their two friends downstairs, not saying a word to each other.

As the elevator doors closed, Starfire glowered in frustration. "What has happened to my friends? I fear they've all gone mad!"

* * *

Abby looked up at the dark tower forebodingly. Just after sunset, the tall edifice was black. Nonetheless, for little Ray's sake, she rang the doorbell again.

When silence greeted them, she turned to Ray apologetically. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said, kneeling to his level. "But it looks like nobody's home."

Ray seemed not to hear her as he walked up to the door and looked up at it. He turned his head over his shoulder and she shivered as he reminded her for the second time that day of _The Exorcist._

"Where could they have gone?" he asked her, sounding hopeless. "You said Robin knew we were coming, didn't you?"

"He was the one who told us to come," Abby verified. "I don't know what could have happened."

But Ray shook his head, once more looking up at the Tower. "No," she said. "There's only one thing that could pull Robin away from anything, and that's a city in danger. We have to find out where the trouble is and get to them." And with that, he marched right past her to the edge of the water.

Abby, however, simply raised a skeptical eyebrow at the kid and bit her lip. "Uh... Ray? That's, er, heroic and all, but, um, you seem to be forgetting one minor detail..."

Ray looked at her in annoyed cynicism. "Oh? And what's that?"

"You're in the body of a ten year old boy," Abby said simply. "And a weak one at that."

Ray fumed. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! If you don't want to come, I don't need you!"

As Ray readied himself to fly over the water, Abby folded her arms smugly. "Right. Do _you_ have a driver's licence? Can you tell me what you'll tell the other Titans when they ask you what the hell you're doing there? Do you have access to all hospital records? Can you make up your own alibis for where you've been for the past few hours?"

Ray blinked at her blankly, then grinned in that childlike way that said "please!" just with the look in those shattered brown eyes.

Abby laughed and raised her eyebrows at Ray, complacently. "Humph. I thought not."

"Wait..." Ray said, a thought occurring to him. "Hold that thought." He marched up to the house and thought a moment.

How can I do this... Raven thought. _Gotta tap into Larkin's powers again... let's see..._ Raven searched her mind for Larkin's physical power center, searching for the dark powers he left behind.

Raven thought. Raven searched her mind for Larkin's physical power center, searching for the dark powers he left behind. 

And just by thinking about it, the lock broke off the door. Raven grinned. But at the back of the mind, she knew that the more she used his powers, the closer she came to unlocking the door to the full potential of Larkin's deadly powers. And she didn't know if she could control them.

"Ray!" Abby exclaimed, horrified. "You're not breaking and entering?"

"No," said Ray, grinning. "I'm just entering and taking. Stay here, I'll be right back."

Abby just folded her arms crossly.

"Hey," said Ray, rolling his eyes. "It's my house anyway. Relax, I just need to grab something." And before she could protest, he was gone into the shadows of Titans' Tower.

* * *

Mumbo cackled hysterically as he beheld the bank with the glee of a child staring at presents on Christmas Eve.

"I think it's time for you to do a disappearing act."

Mumbo turned to give a clever retort to the teen superheroes, but stopped short as he observed their stance.

The team was visibly divided, with Robin at the front as always, but Beast Boy stayed far from him towards the back, behind Raven who was watching Robin with some curious negative emotion. Meanwhile, on Robin's other side stood Cyborg proudly, behind whom stood Starfire, looking terribly perplexed. And even their stances looked half-hearted, as if each and everyone of them was preoccupied– as if this whole thing was nothing more than a nuisance distracting them from their oh-so-much-more-important lives.

Needless to say, this did not please Mumbo. He put his hands on his hips, furiously. "That's it?" he said. "That wasn't even that witty! Oh come on, you're not even trying!"

Robin looked to Cyborg and cocked an apathetic eyebrow. Cyborg merely shrugged in reply, then glared at Beast Boy as if involved in some petty child's fight, his expression just as effective as it would have been had he stuck out his tongue.

Mumbo couldn't believe his eyes. He threw his arms up in the air. "I go through all the trouble of putting on a show and who shows up to see it? Some cheap imitation of the Teen Titans who don't even have the decency to show a little malice!"

The Titans merely watched him mutely.

"Fine then!" Mumbo exclaimed. "If all you're going to do is watch the show, then by all means, watch the show while I make money disappear–"

Within a second, he was on the ground, Robins foot on his neck, threatening to press.

"Not so fast, Mumbo," he said.

"Look again, Robin," Mumbo returned, grinning.

Robin frowned, "Wha...?" he said, but before he could blink, Mumbo was gone, behind him in fact, and knocked the boy down.

"I think we've had enough of that," said Cyborg, aiming his cannon at him. Mumbo merely grinned and threw a playing card at him, which lodged itself in the half-robot's arm, causing sparks to fly. "Damn!" Cyborg exclaimed, pulling the card out.

"Hehehe!" Mumbo cried as he ran towards the bank, only to be tackled by a green tiger.

"Cyborg's circuits are screwed up enough without your help," Beast Boy snapped, pinning the man to the ground. Mumbo gave a mighty kick and the small-framed superhero went flying, transforming into a pterodactyl midair and giving a loud screech to show his annoyance.

There was a blast of green at Mumbo's feet and he jumped and spun around to meet the red-haired heroine, smiling at him with glaring green eyes, another star bolt kindled in her hand. He sneered at her and reached into his cloak to pull out another trick.

"Have enough in there for all of us?"

Mumbo spun around to meet Robin. Suddenly, he noticed Beast Boy and Cyborg had joined him, surrounding him in a tight circle. Furiously, he glared at each in turn, a truly evil grin spreading across his face.

"Mumbo always saves his best tricks for the grand finale..."

They all prepared for the worst, each Titan in battle position as he reached into his cloak... and pulled out a pair of dice.

"Huh?" Beast Boy said, voicing what they were all thinking. With the Titans caught off guard by pesky confusion, Mumbo threw the dice. A pair of ones. Snake eyes. The dice emitted a cloud of gray smoke and then, suddenly, Starfire shrieked.

Scales. Cold scales in darkness cutting into her arms, her midriff, her shoulders... something was squeezing her.

Within the blink of an eye a giant anaconda had wrapped itself around all four of them.

"Raven!" Beast Boy called out, painfully, running out of breath. "Raven, where are you?!"

* * *

"Um... Ray?" Abby asked after a while of driving around the city. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Left," Ray said.

"Excuse me?"

"Turn left. At this next intersection."

Abby glanced at Ray in her rearview mirror. "How do you know..."

"Robin and Larkin's mental signals," said Ray, frowning. "They're... near here. A little out of range. Left, go left."

"Downtown?"

"Downtown."

* * *

Larkin floated above the roof of the building, observing the strangely passive fight. Neither side had seemed very enthusiastic about the battle, using no unique moves or strategies... until the snake had arrived.

"Damn..." Larkin muttered to himself. He'd been hoping that he could stay out of the fight. But if he did not intervene, they would all die.

But is that such a bad thing? Larkin was stunned at the thought. Why was he taking so much care in keeping them alive? The answer was simple. To use them, of course. They were the perfect tools to achieve his own ends. They could get him anything he asked for. Money, power, revenge... it was so simple. If he lost one of them, the team would suffer as a whole. It was best to keep them all alive.

Yes, that was best.

Of course, it had nothing to do with the agonizing way Beast Boy's face was screwed up in pain, his neck slowly acquiring a new accessory as the serpent wound itself around them tighter. Soon, his head would be gone and he would be crushed before he could have the chance to suffocate.

Starfire's eyes, the vengeful fire gone from them now, wide in pure terror as she struggled against the reptilian grip. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as the snake bit into her shoulder. She began to bleed.

Larkin turned away.

They must be kept alive. For the greater purpose.

As the fog dissipated, Mumbo began giggling madly, dancing around on the spot. Finally, he turned to the bank, rubbing his hands gleefully. He got ready to work his magic when...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Huh?" But as Mumbo turned around, to his great surprised, there was a sharp stabbing pain in his nose. Blood gushed everywhere and his face and head began to throb like the thunderclouds of the Migraine from Hell. This was only the beginning. He fell over backwards, stunned not only from the pain, but from the trauma of such an unexpected phenomena.

Instantly, the snake disappeared and the Titans ran to detain the fallen Mumbo Jumbo.

Meanwhile, Raven rubbed her knuckles, frowning. "Ow," she said. "That hurt more than it should have."

Beast Boy threw his arm around her shoulders and stared at her in awe. "Wow, Rae, I mean, I've seen you do some pretty impressive stuff, but the way you treated hand-to-hand combat was like it was beneath you!"

Raven gave him a lopsided smile, still rubbing her sore knuckles. "I can see why now. That bitch broke my hand."

"That bitch broke my face!" wailed Mumbo from the ground, trying to jump at Raven but being successfully restrained by Cyborg and Robin, looking over their shoulders warily at the dark girl. She merely gave them a proud smile and shrugged.

Suddenly, she found herself finding it difficult to breathe and feared the bite of the giant South American snake and breathed in to scream– when she was nearly choked to death by a mass of red hair!

"Oh Raven, I knew you would come to our rescue!" Starfire exclaimed. "You are truly the daughter of the benevolent Zorba!"

"I assume that's like a God on your planet?" Raven said, as the boys went to restrain Mumbo further until the police arrived. Starfire looked stunned.

"He is a hero, known for his resistance without violence..." she muttered. "He once stopped a galactic war by refusing to eat until it ended. Revered by both sides, neither of which wished to see him harmed, his protest was a success."

"Huh," said Raven. "Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm no Ghandi."

"He is a similar figure in Earth society, I have read of him," said Starfire, sounding ecstatic that she understood an Earth reference. "But you misunderstand. Zorba is also known for ending the tyranny of Emperor Larg of the Crobis system simply by slapping him across the face. Just as you demonstrated."

Raven smiled. "Well, I guess I'm the daughter of Zorba then," she said. Starfire grinned happily. Raven tilted her head, as if considering something. Finally, her smile broadened and she embraced her friend.

Surprised for only a moment, Starfire closed her eyes and returned the embrace.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"... Are we there _yet_?"

"_No._"

"Oh... ... ... Are we there _yet_?"

"_NO!_" Abby turned around full in her seat as they stopped at a stop light to see an innocent-looking Ray grinning back up at her. "Ray– _Raven_– would you please _shut up_ I am _trying_ to drive here!"

"Oh I'm sorry, Abby," Ray said, his voice nothing but sugarcoated sarcasm. "I didn't know I was distracting you so! I was just trying to be a _kid_, you know, like you _told_ me to."

Abby began to grind her teeth. "Yeah," she said. "But you're more mature than the whole 'are we there yet' thing. So please, sit tight, we'll get there... wherever _there_ is."

Ray leaned back in his seat and folded his little arms.

Abby frowned at him. "What are you grinning at?" she asked.

Ray merely shrugged, still grinning. "The light's been green for twenty seconds now."

It was then that Abby became aware of the honking cars. Giving out a frustrated growl like a wolf on steroids, she turned back to the wheel. "Alright, alright, I'm moving already!" she yelled out the window. She gave Ray a dirty look in her rearview mirror. "And you refused to tell me this because...?"

Ray just shrugged again. "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice."

* * *

Robin looked over at the girls, embracing, like friends as the police arrived. His mind was reeling.

"What's wrong, Rob?"

Robin jumped at Cyborg's voice, but did not look at him. "He could have let us die... why did he save us?"

Cyborg hesitated a moment. "Rob...?"

But Robin shook it off and turned to his friend. "Don't worry about me, Cyborg," Robin said. "I'm just rambling."

"Right..." said Cyborg slowly. But before he could ask Robin any questions, the police wanted him to answer some.

Cyborg distracted with the police, Robin shirked his duties as chief of relations with the J.C.P.D and joined his other friends. But he hesitated a moment, observing them from afar curiously.

Beast Boy's arm was around Raven comfortably, and for once she didn't look upset about it. She was chatting amiably with Starfire, who suddenly seized Raven's hand and started jumping up and down excitedly. Rather than roll her eyes at this obscene display of emotion, Raven just grinned and tossed her head back and laughed, her hood coming down to reveal her eyes sparkling in the light of the street lamps.

She was... _They _were...

"Happy..." Robin murmured. He took a deep breath, mustering his mettle and approached them.

While Beast Boy and Starfire kept laughing, Raven fell unusually silent, her expression turning grave.

"Robin," she said, forcing a smile. "Have you too come to congratulate me on my punching skills?"

"Yes," said Robin, glad for the excuse to speak. "That was very... unpredictable of you."

Raven eyed him warily a moment, and then seemed to smile knowingly. Strangely, Robin found the expression forcing his own lips to turn upwards, though he was unsure why. Something seemed to be different about the person before him.

"I believe that's a very accurate way of describing it." Raven said, her smile quickly turning into a smirk.

"Hey Robin!" Beast Boy cried. "How 'bout taking your team out for pizza? I'd say we deserve it!"

"Funny," said Robin, nonchalantly, "that half an hour ago we should all be in terrible moods, obviously bickering among ourselves, neither of us in a mood for a fight... And yet now, when we realized that apathy could be our downfall, we're much more appreciative of what we have. Wouldn't you agree, Raven?"

The girl merely smiled at Robin mysteriously. "It would seem so, Robin. But has our attitudes changed so much as to have eliminated our friendly conflicts completely?"

Robin eyed her uncertainly. "I'll get back to you on that."

"Well!" said Cyborg, coming up from behind them, the police already driving away with Mumbo in tow. "A good fight always gets that adrenalin rushing, doesn't it? I believe I heard Beast Boy mention pizza?"

"You better believe it, man," Beast Boy declared giving his friend a grin and a pat on the back. "Robin's treating!"

"I am not!" Robin protested, but to no avail as neither Beast Boy nor Cyborg were paying much heed.

"Sounds good to me," said Cyborg. "One condition, though. NO tofu!"

"Aw, man, that's the best part!" Beast Boy insisted.

Robin shook his head with a content smile. "Crazy..." he mumbled.

They squabbled about it all the way to the pizza parlor.

* * *

"Alright, smart one, now what?" Abby asked, coming to another intersection. She tapped her fingers on the wheel a moment and licked her lips. She rolled her eyes. "Ray, I'm talking to you," she said. When he did not reply, she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier, and I'm sorry for putting you off track with that shopping trip, and I'm... Hell, what else do you want me to apologize for? But this is your life we're saving, so give up the silent treatment and–"

She cut herself off when she turned around and noticed Ray wasn't there. Or rather, his mind wasn't.

Suddenly, it became very cold inside the small Altima. Abby looked around, somehow strangely worried, then turned back to her ten-year-old companion. "Ray... Ray? Ray, wake up. Please?"

"Please..."

The word startled Abby out of her skin because it was not Ray who said it, though his lips moved. She turned and noticed frost forming on the windows. She rubbed her arms. "Ray, we have to go..."

"Go." The word was a direct order, but Abby did not know who was delivering it.

"Ray, I don't know..."

"No!" It was a shout now, and Abby didn't like it.

"Ray, stop it!" Abby screamed back.

"_Pit._"

"I won't let you scare me," Abby said, shaking her head, her eyes wide.

It was then that the boy turned, his eyes staring straight at her. They were empty, and somehow small in their tiny sockets, lonely. "You scare me," he whispered.

Abby frowned, then gasped in realization."

"You're... I read about this," she said, nodding her head up and down. "It's... Latin, Echo and Narcissus, or Echo and Pan... you're..."

"Or...?"

Abby grinned. "Abby," she said.

"Be," said the boy.

Abby nodded up and down. "Listen to me Ray. I'm not very good at this game. There was this book, about how an echo can return a totally different meaning... You're trying to talk to me. But Ray, I don't know what to say!"

"Say..." Ray whispered. "Say, say..."

Abby sighed. "Hang in there kid, I'll find them for you. Just, sit tight, alright?"

"Right!" Ray said adamantly.

Abby blinked. "I sure hope that was a hint," she said, before turning back to the wheel, turning on her blinker, and turning right. "Damn, this is crazy."

"Crazy..."


	10. 8:00:Stop & Smell the Flowers Philosophy

**_Author's Notes:_**I've been arguing with myself on Chapter Eleven, I'm thinkin it could use a rewrite, maybe, maybe not. Well, we'll see. Also,my friend just arrived here all the way from Reno Nevada, which is why I didn't update on Thurs like normal. I also had this 24-hour drama gig with middleschool kids so... but this isn't Carly's biography. Anyways, it's up now. Wow, I can't believe the kind long reviews I got from last chapter, and from some very worthy people. I feel honored. Grins. Zoe Rose, Master Sage, I bow down to you and thank you. Surprising that Heather was the one who linked us together, not sure why it's surprising, but it is.

Anyways, onward ho!

(PS: The A/N in the last chapter talkin abouta 'surprising turn of events' for a character was meant for this chapter-- I realize now it must have made little to no sense to y'all. My apologies. I forget in which chapter I write what.)

Chapter 10: 8:00: The 'Stop and Smell the Flowers' Philosophy

8:00

"Well," Abby declared, staring at the road straight ahead of her. "I never asked. I guess now is as good a time as any. _Who_ exactly is possessing you?"

She glanced at her companion in her rearview mirror and smiled wanly at his blank look as he stared out the window. "Huh," she said. "I see you don't want to talk about it. Well, Ray– or Raven– where are you from anyhow? I don't know so much about you Teen Titans. I guess you're not gonna answer that question either, eh? Then I guess I'll tell you a little about myself. I've been meaning to confide in someone for a long time, without judging, without thinking... I've done some pretty regrettable things in my life. Probably the worst was working in the ER. Things were great for me there, but it was a mistake.

"The doctors were so talented! It was so great to work with such quick-minded people. I guess you have to be in that place, you gotta make a lot of on-the-spot life-or-death decisions there. They were nice too. There was this one doctor, Kyle Langly... he was really sweet, Ray, you wouldn't believe. Granted, he was a Republican, and a little close minded, but he treated me like I was the prettiest woman he'd ever seen, like a noble damsel from the middle ages or something... we were happy.

"And then, I did something really stupid..."

* * *

She looked at her reflection in the water and saw nothing. Pining over love, she wasted away until naught but her voice remained on the cold winds that carried it. 

Anguish consumed her, of love she could never grasp, though it stood just out of reach. All she wanted was for them to be happy, for them to remember her, see her for who she is and not for who she's not. She thought they loved her enough to never be fooled again. She was wrong.

What love could cause such agony?

Not this kind, she realized suddenly, looking up at the ebony sky.

What is this?

As she looked around, the meadow deteriorated and she was in her own mind again, being absorbed by the oblivion taking it over. She looked at her interpersonal wall, which contained her communication and social skills and noted it was crashing down worse than anything else. Should she lose the ability to communicate with the outside world, she would truly be trapped in her own head and it would end too quickly.

Luckily, her mind seemed to be smart enough to know this. It supported the wall with a strong memory of a story she knew as a child, improvising new ways to keep up communication with others while the conventional ways were consumed by nothingness. The memory and interpersonal wall merged into one and she realized the memory was also tied to Larkin's powers, bound by a physical lock she hoped she never broke.

Larkin's powers were bulging at the edges, desperately trying to escape the lock. But Raven couldn't control those powers. She knew if she'd had her own, she wouldn't even be able to control them. Larkin's powers were much more reckless and dangerous, and unused to being locked up. Each time she used them the binds that held them lessened.

Her mind added another rope to the binds, made up of one of her emotions themselves, and, as she saw, a useless one at this point: fear.

The emotion howled and pleaded with her to take it back with her other emotions, and oh how much these demons frightened her, but Raven kicked it into place, and made sure it wrapped around the dark powers tightly and wouldn't budge.

She then made a promise never to use any of Larkin's powers again unless in case of an extreme emergency. She'd been too reckless with them thus far.

She then turned again to her interpersonal wall and the memory supporting it. The memory itself seemed to be a failsafe for anything in her head, always running to rescue whatever sector was deteriorating, and, she noted, was even supporting a part of her personality itself.

Which is why she had found herself staring into a lake, 'pining over love.'

Her mind was pulling out its emergency defense mechanisms, which meant things were getting really bad. It was like having a big red alarm go off saying there was a nuclear meltdown about to happen. As one of its defenses, to conserve energy, it forged a different personality for Raven out of her solid memory of an old Greek Myth, rather than try and support her wider, more complex personality. The persona of Echo was so simple and easy to maintain; it was a simple role to assume.

Just as the mind used Echo's personality as a backup for Raven's deteriorating real one, they also used Echo's speech patterns to make communication simpler in order to focus its energies elsewhere, on preserving less replaceable things, such as memory.

Because of this, Raven was speaking in tongues.

This infuriated her. Quickly, she took her dream wall and connected it to her personality quadrant, removing the memory to help the locks containing Larkin's powers. Pulling up another memory of a different novel, she used that to help support her communication skills, using the words– and much larger vocabulary– of JRR Tolkein to help her communicate.

Smiling, satisfied, she pulled out of her head.

"... damn AZT from the damn pharmacy, but no! They don't sell that here anymore! Too many goddamn robberies–"

"Abby, what the hell are you talking about?"

Abby jumped and nearly swerved off the road at the voice.

"Jesus Christ, Ray!" she shrieked, pulling over. "Don't scare me like that!" She was breathing heavily when she turned around to look at the little boy. Her eyes were oddly bloodshot as she looked at him, expecting some sort of answer to a question she never asked.

"Sorry," Ray said with a smirk. "I was... preoccupied."

"Really?" Abby said, sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

"Apparently not, since you seemed to have gone on talking to me anyway," said Ray.

Abby grew strangely silent, and looked away. Ray frowned, noting the strange look of hurt she wore in her eyes.

"Abby, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Abby muttered. "I just... I tend to ramble sometimes. People are always looking for someone to listen when they really need someone who won't, you know?"

"No," said Ray with a frown, I don't.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," said Abby with a sigh. "Let's... let's get going, shall we?"

Ray frowned, intrigued by this sudden change in mood. "Abby... what were you saying?"

"I..." Abby sighed. "I've had people judging me my whole life, Ray, if it wasn't one thing, then it was another, and it's just so... ridiculous. I run, I hide, but now there's something that inevitably catches up with me, and it's a part of me I _have_ to keep hidden for as long as possible, but... Just... just forget I said anything. You wouldn't understand."

Ray raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh?" he said. "Now who's the one underestimating?"

Abby laughed. "You think I'm a shallow, gullible twit, who'll believe what she hears and do what she's told. You think I've never been disbelieved, discriminated against, even shunned. You think there's nothing more to me other than the fact that I'm a nurse at a mental hospital. Did you ever even think to wonder _why_ I work at a mental hospital? Damn, Ray, I get that you're having a crisis here, but your so damn focused on your problems that you just _assume_ that everyone else will comply to your demands because you're fighting the good fight. You just _assume_ that there's no other problems in the world other than–"

But she was interrupted by the beeping of her pager. She sighed and reached into her purse. "Right, of course, and the cycle continues," she said, sadly.

"Please don't tell me those are for me," said Ray, half-jokingly, looking at the pill bottle in her hand.

But Abby didn't take it as a joke. She glared at him. "My point exactly. No, Ray, these, these are for me." And she swallowed one.

"What are... do you... are you... Where are we?" Ray said suddenly, looking around.

Abby shrugged. "Near the bank I think," she said, putting away her pills. She sighed again and turned back to the wheel. "Let's find your friends shall we?"

"They're near here..." said Ray slowly as Abby got back on the road. "Keep going straight... go to the bank."

Abby simply nodded.

"Abby..." Ray said after a while, staring at the back of her head, her brown hair slightly messed. "You... you have AIDS, don't you?"

Abby didn't say a word.

* * *

They ate as though nothing wrong had ever happened, as if all friction between them had disappeared. Even Robin seemed to be enjoying the evening, laughing heartily as Beast Boy got in an argument with Raven over pepperoni. 

"But it's not even real _meat_," said Raven, analyzing a slice. "It's processed pseudo-meat the government makes out of... well, I don't know what it's out of, but it's not meat."

"It's pig," said Beast Boy, adamantly, a strange note of sensetivity to his voice.

"In England, maybe," Raven returned. "But here... everything's fake. So just eat it, it won't hurt you."

"Oh yeah?" Beast Boy cried, picking up a slice between its fingers. "Haven't you ever heard of Ryu, the Super Sharp Ninja Slice of Kuwan?"

"The what now?" Raven asked flatly, eyebrows raised.

And, without further hesitation, Beast Boy made strange gestures with his hands, and some odd kung fu calls before finally throwing the slice at Raven.

It hit her cheek. She didn't react as it slid down her face leaving a trail of grease.

She shivered in disgust, peeling the pepperoni off her shoulder.

"Well," she said. "Ryu the Ninja Pepperoni didn't hurt me. But I know something that's gonna hurt you."

There was a scuffle of chairs and Cyborg actually had to get up to restrain the girl as she tried to launch herself at the shape shifter, but they were all laughing. It was all in good fun, no one meant any harm.

And for the first time, Robin realized that. Why had he tried to break this happy group apart by accusing Raven of villainy?

Because she isn't Raven, he reminded himself.

The thought brought him back onto the cold stones steps of reality, leading up to the cathedral of what he wanted to believe true. But he was locked out. This was _not_ Raven. Every muscle in his body was sure of it. And wherever Raven was, she was not OK. Every sense in his head was sure of _that_. But every fiber of his heart somehow felt that this... this _person_... their intentions weren't as bad as they once were. Whatever change had happened in this person was a mystery to Robin.

But the fact of the matter is, this person Robin had been so sure was Larkin– hadn't he threatened to kill him?– was now laughing– genuinely laughing– and joking– seriously joking– with his friends. Robin didn't know whether to scream at her to get away from his friends, or to hug her and join in the festivities.

Knowing Raven as well as he did, and knowing Larkin as well as he must, this person– if it was even Larkin at all– wasn't Raven, but wasn't evil.

It was all too confusing for Robin to handle and he began to get a headache.

What _was_ this? An hour ago, this person was about to slit Robin's throat and now, she was offering him a slice of pizza!

Wait, she was?

"Hey, Robin, wake up!" Raven said, waving her hand in front of Robin's face. He shook his head and blinked at her. "There's one piece of pizza left. You want it?"

"Oh, no, go ahead, take it," said Robin with a smile. _And now we're _smiling _at each other???_

It could be just an act, to keep up in front of the others. But since Larkin was in his head, Robin found he always had some inkling of his intentions... and this time, for the first time, they weren't deceptive as far as he could tell.

Maybe he's hiding it really _well,_ Robin thought. Then, another more alarming thought occurred to him. _Or what if he's in my head manipulating me right now!_

really Robin thought. Then, another more alarming thought occurred to him. 

Suddenly shocked at the thought, Robin stood up, pushing his chair away. He successfully gained everyone's attention with this random, sudden movement. Instantly aware of the eight eyes staring at him, he became strangely self-conscious and sat down again, smiling sheepishly.

"Heh heh," he said lightly. "I uh... there was a fly and it wouldn't leave me alone."

Unwilling to try and decipher Robin's odd actions, or probably not wanting to give any reason to think him insane again, the Titans accepted the flimsy excuse and returned to their conversation, all but Raven, who looked at him in... Was that _concern? _

No! Robin thought, adamantly. _He tried to kill me. No. He's just messing with my head. He has to be. Where's Raven? Oh God, where's Raven?_

Suddenly, his head began to throb madly.

Then he stood up and put his hands on the table and leaned on them, frowning and looking at his friends behind his mask. They stopped their conversation and looked at him again, half-expecting one of his lame excuses again so they could dismiss his strange behavior as eccentric– not insane.

But his words shattered any chance of this comforting belief.

"There's something very wrong here."

* * *

They pulled up in front of the bank, but all was quiet. In the back seat, Ray sighed. 

"Well, they're not here," he said, sadly.

"Where to now, Boss?" Abby said, her eyebrows raised with sarcastic fatigue.

"Abby, I'm sorry for dragging you around with me," said Ray. "You know, you don't _have_ to be here..."

"What," said Abby, "I should go back to the hospital and wait for Dr. Taylor to yell at me about where his most dangerous patient is? Uh uh, I don't think so. I gotta keep an eye on you." She turned around in her seat and smiled at Ray. "Face it, kid, you're stuck with me."

But Ray was still unhappy, despite her cheery disposition. "How do you do that?" he asked, marveling. "You seem to be able to do... what it's taken me years to master. In the middle of chaos and trouble, you still joke and laugh and smile through it all, as if it's one big joke."

"Well," said Abby, shrugging. "I suppose it is a big joke. I mean, it has to be doesn't it? As David Ives said, there's nothing more absurd than reality. Sometimes you have to take everything and just laugh like you would at a good comedy. I mean, if life's not funny, then what's the point?"

Ray shook his head in admiration. "You're really great, you know that? It's... unbelievable. You're right. I'm so absorbed in my problems, all I can see is... bleak. I'm sorry for being so condescending earlier, but you were... well, annoying me. In my lowest point you had to take me... _shopping_. I mean, it was ridiculous but... it made you smile. And... you have a really bright smile."

Slightly blushing, Abby accidentally proved Ray's point by giving him a weak smile that still somehow warmed him.

Ray smiled in return. "Somehow... and honestly, I don't know how, because sometimes you drive me absolutely up the wall but... somehow you make this... a little easier. Thanks."

"Hey," Abby said, still smiling embarrassedly, "you give me something to live for. Something that I can do that really makes a difference... I guess that's _really_ why I believed you. I wanted to. I wanted to have an adventure."

"Believe me," said Ray. "You'll get that."

They shared a companionable silence for a moment when Abby finally spoke up again, her voice soft. "I'm really glad you landed yourself in my hospital... and... Thanks. Just... thanks. For everything. This... this adventure, helping a Teen Titans, and for... well, for being so wrapped up in your problems that mine don't, well, bother you."

"But why would they?" Ray said. "It's not like you've got the plague."

Abby shrugged. "Well to some... They say it doesn't, and you meet people who said they'd treat you the same, and it's not their fault, I'm sure I'd..."

Ray interrupted Abby's rambling. "How?" he said simply.

Abby was startled. "What do you mean?"

Ray's expression was inscrutable. "How did it happen? If you don't mind me asking."

Abby gave a weak smile. "An accident," she said. "Something only a stupid intern would do... well, I was a stupid intern, but... A bad needle and a sick patient is all. But people do treat you... differently when they know you have it. Like... like Kyle."

"Who's Kyle?" Ray asked. Abby blushed.

"Oh, just a... a doctor I was seeing. We got the results and he tried to be so supportive, and even being a doctor he _knew_ all the myths and facts about it, but still he... he wouldn't touch me anymore. I... I didn't know what to do. And then I was transferred to Starshine Pediatrics. Soon after that, I was over in the clinic. Then the burn unit of JC General, the OR for almost a year, and even a term in admin before they sent me over to Sun Oaks. But Kyle never called me again. I've kept my distance from people since." Abby sighed and turned back to the wheel. "But I don't really matter right now..."

"How are you so... well, you continue working with such a... You smile. All the time. You joke just as cornily and maybe even more often as Beast Boy. But... you're so..."

"Lonely?" Abby chimed with a grim smile. "Nah. If having AIDS has taught me one thing, it's life isn't worth regretting things. So I try not to do anything I'd regret. Like waste my days worrying about the future, or dwelling on mistakes I made in the past. That's the most I've said about Kyle in three years. And... I don't blame him, really. I mean, we all say we'd do things in theory... But we can never really be sure, can we? Well, that part of me is gone now. And frankly, the time I spent with him, I enjoyed. And I learned a lot from my period as an ER nurse. I just... well, Ray, I've been telling you, you just have to slow down sometimes, despite an impending deadline. If you rush through life, you'll get to the finish line wondering why you ran the race in the first place."

"So you're of the 'stop and smell the flowers' philosophers, huh?" Ray said with a wry smile. Abby laughed and somehow, Ray could hear true contentedness inside of it.

"I suppose you could say that," she said. "Remind me: when all this is over, I have to show you the ocean."

Ray laughed. "Abby, maybe you forget. I'm a Titan. I live on the water."

"Yeah," said Abby, looking at him in her rearview mirror with an excited smile. "But you haven't seen the ocean like I have. When I found out I had AIDS... the first place I went was the beach. I was by myself and, funnily enough, the day I'd chosen to go it was raining, so I was the only one there. Even in the gray clouds, amongst all that water... It's huge, really, and gorgeous, and even in the stormy air you could still smell time itself on its waves... God, I sound like some cheesy Hallmark employee. But, well... You know, that sea smell, salt and froth, and... it makes me pensive. It seemed endless, kinda like everything else did when I was your age. But like everything else, even the ocean has a limit. But it at least lasts. It lasts forever."

"Right..." said Ray, not quite understanding what Abby said. "OK. You can take me to the ocean and tell me all this there."

"Right!" Abby cried, as if jolting out of a daydream. "I'm sorry. We should get to your friends."

"Yeah," said Ray. "And... sorry, Abby, but despite your philosophy–"

"We need to hurry?" Abby said.

"Yeah."

"I figured."


	11. 9:00: Apocalypse

**_A/N_**: Yes, ShadowSage2, by whatever alias, it was you I spoke of. I call everyone master. Ask Heather, the Mastamind haha. Anyways, this chapter is up extra soon because, well, to be honest, though this is my least favorite chapter because I feel I could have done better, the next chapter, chapter 12, entiled "No Good Deed Goes Unpunnished" is my absolute FAVORITE. I finished it, and I figured that I had to get it up as soon as possible. These next two chapters are basically the climax of the tale, so hold on tight and enjoy!

Chapter 11: 9:00: Apocalypse

**9:00**

Starfire stood up and pulled her comrade aside.

"Robin!" she hissed in a tone unlike her character. "What are you doing? We are pleasantly celebrating the consumption of nutrients and you stand and declare that something is amiss! What could cause such an odd exclamation?"

Robin was looking over her shoulder at his three friends sitting at the table, talking quietly among themselves, doubtlessly about him.

"I'm sorry..." he said, his mind obviously elsewhere. Starfire growled in frustration.

"Robin!" she cried again, furiously. But then she sighed and looked down, almost sad. "I do not like arguing with you. Please, Robin, tell me. I thought all this rebellious strangeness was gone from you after our successful victory over Mumbo Jumbo. What has happened since then that has caused you to doubt our friend? Did Raven not save us from the terrible magic snake that had tried to crush us? Did you and she not negotiate peace terms at the site where we apprehended the criminal?"

"I know how it looks," said Robin, looking at Starfire now with a very solemn expression. "But you don't understand."

"Robin," Starfire said, her voice pained. "I want to. I do wish I could understand you. But perhaps there are forces at work I cannot comprehend."

"You're right," said Robin. "There are, Larkin is–"

"I mean," Starfire interrupted sadly, "something wrong with _you_."

"No." The answer was so adamant, it startled Starfire and Robin explained. "Listen. I've gone through the whole 'Robin's crazy' scenario, because I knew you guys would always throw that back at me, and who knows? Maybe you were right. But the more I thought about it, the more this voice inside me screamed _'No. _No, Robin, you're not crazy.' It makes sense to me now, well, mostly, and he's admitted it to me, too. He knows I know and he's given up, and he was going to _kill_ me, Starfire, but then the alarm sounded and now..." Robin looked past her again to the table where his friends were laughing once again, seeming to have forgotten all about Robin's disturbing statement.

"Now what, Robin?" Starfire asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Please, Robin. Understand that I _want_ to believe you. But..." Starfire sighed, and shook her head, looking terribly distressed. "Why, Robin?" she asked finally, the tears surprising her companion. "Why do you force me to make these decisions? You and Raven both, turning me against... against... Robin, I honestly do not know what to believe. You stand here saying that Raven is not what she seems, and Raven is there saying that _you_ are not as _you_ seem... Why? I do not understand. But... perhaps, I am beginning to..." Starfire frowned, staring off over Robin's shoulder.

Robin was suspicious. "What? What are you understanding?"

"Perhaps..." Starfire said slowly, her lips barely moving. "Perhaps both you and Raven... Maybe you are both telling the truth. Perhaps neither of you are what you seem."

"Starfire, that's ridiculous," said Robin, dismissing it instantly.

"Is it?" Starfire snapped. "Is it really so much more ludicrous than your _own _outrageous claims, Robin?"

"Mine have some basis in fact," Robin returned, a little defensively. "I've done a lot of research on this stuff, all damn day, dammit, and I think– no, I _know_– that Larkin has taken over Raven's body. All of my research says it has, it's–"

"Robin!" Starfire interrupted. "Why are you so defensive? I am agreeing with you! I am saying that perhaps Raven is not who she appears to be. But perhaps you should take a closer look at yourself and tell me, _tell_ me, Robin! Are you the same person you were yesterday?"

Robin stepped away from her frowning. "No..." he said, slowly. "I'm not."

Rather than reply, Starfire merely folded her arms and looked at him, with those piercing green eyes.

"What do you suppose that was about?" Beast Boy asked his two friends, looking from Raven to Cyborg.

"Let's not talk about it..." Cyborg muttered, staring pointedly at his plate as he took another bight of pizza.

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked, a slight hint of hostility to his tone. "If something's wrong with Robin, I think it's about time we talked about it."

"Nothing's wrong with Robin!" Cyborg said through gritted teeth after he swallowed his pizza forcibly.

"He's right," Raven said at last, her eyes unfocused as she stared at something that didn't exist.

Beast Boy looked to Raven confused. "Wha– but you– he was– and you said– huh?"

Raven smiled at Beast Boy kindly. "Robin is fine," she said. "Just a little confused, is all. He doesn't understand how everything could be right again after we had been so divided. A near-death experience can really get to you. And it helped that extreme pain dulls the senses." She smiled mysteriously. "When that snake was around you, Robin was so blinded by pain, his shields were down and I slipped into his mind undetected."

Cyborg stood up. "You _what?_" His voice was as quiet and as deadly as the calm before a storm.

"Cyborg sit down," Raven said calmly. "I knew you wouldn't like that. Let me explain."

Calming down, Cyborg nodded and took his seat, then looked at her expectantly.

"I didn't do _anything._" Beast Boy and Cyborg both looked surprised at this statement. Raven hesitated. "I..." She took a deep breath. "It was normal. There was nothing wrong."

Beast Boy frowned, confused. "That's it!" he declared, throwing his arms in the air. "This has just crossed over into the twilight zone!"

"I agree with BB," Cyborg said, eying Raven suspiciously. "If Robin's not crazy, then why..."

"I don't know," Raven interrupted, obviously beginning to falter. "Believe me, out of all of us, I think I'm the most bewildered." It was probably the most honest thing Larkin had said to them all day.

"Um...?" Beast Boy said, raising his hand. "I have rightfully _earned_ that title, thank you, I would much appreciate it if you didn't _steal_ it from me!"

Raven smiled at him warmly. "OK. But I've been thinking for a while that Robin's head had been damaged when I was fighting Larkin in his head... and now, I go back, and it's just... fine. And I can't do anything to... to help him. And he's been not trusting me and now I can't figure out why."

"Maybe he generally thinks your evil..." Cyborg mumbled.

Raven looked away but said nothing.

"Raven's no more evil than Robin," Beast Boy snapped at Cyborg.

"I know!" Cyborg retorted, defensively. Raven looked up, her expression blank, and their eyes met. Eventually he smiled at her and looked away sheepishly. "I know," he repeated, quietly. "My point is, something Rae did or said made him think... truly think... that Raven was not who she claimed to be."

"Maybe I haven't been," said Raven sadly. "But I'll try to be."

"Hey," said Beast Boy, leaning in really close to his companions. "Did you ever wonder how long it would take for an emu to run across the Australian Outback?"

Raven raised a mocking eyebrow at Beast Boy before hitting him upside the head.

"What are we talking about?" Robin asked with a smile as he sat down. His friends looked at him curiously.

Starfire sat down quickly after Robin, her face obviously less than satisfied. Whatever discussion had passed between her and Robin, it wasn't finished.

Raven smiled at the two recently-arrived Titans. "Beast Boy's odd obsession with fowl."

Robin raised a skeptical eyebrow at the shape shifter, who merely shrugged innocently in reply.

There they were. Sitting there. She'd finally found them.

"So," Abby said, as Ray stared at them out of the car window. "Are we there yet?"

Ray chuckled. "It seems so..." he muttered.

"Now what?" Abby asked.

Ray opened the door and stepped out, his expression determined. "Confrontation. Peace. At last."

He felt her immediately. All his senses flared, warning him that she was nearby. _Merely _feet_ away!_

He turned around and saw her standing in the street, in the body of that useless son of his.

"Aw, Christ," Larkin said. "Not you again."

The kid merely raised his eyebrows at the teen superheroes.

"Not _me _again?" he said. "I've been locked in a mental hospital, lost on the subway, _dragged_ into a department store, forced to wear this _idiotic _hat, running around this _stupid_ city looking for you. And all you can say is 'not _you_ again?'???"

Raven tilted her head at the boy. Finally, she sighed and stood up.

"Fine," she said. "Let's end this."

"Friend Raven?" Starfire said, placing a hand on Raven's forearm. "What is taking place?"

Raven shook Starfire from her reach. "I am not your friend, Starfire," she whispered for only Starfire to hear, her eyes closed as if the words stung.

Starfire drew away, stunned.

Raven stepped away from the table and into the streets. The boy crossed his arms. Behind him, Abby stepped out of the small black Altima, watching them curiously.

"It's time Raven and I settled this once and for all," the person in Raven's body said loudly, staring at the boy in the street. The other Titans rose, suddenly startled, but none of them said a word. The boy was smiling.

"I'm glad you can be a man about this, Larkin," said the boy.

Raven smiled. "Indeed I can."

There was a flurry of energy among the two foes. They both seemed to have identical powers.

"It's like watching two Ravens," Cyborg muttered to Robin, who was watching the fight in confused intrigue.

"Give up, Songbird," hissed Larkin as he trapped the boy against the wall with Raven's own powers. "You cannot defeat me."

"Wanna bet?" little Ray returned, throwing a mailbox enveloped in purple energy at Larkin's head. Disoriented, the man in Raven's body dropped his telekinetic hold on the boy before him and Ray fell to the floor.

"Fool!" Larkin screamed, charging his energy and aiming.

"Raven!" The call was Starfire's and all heads turned, horrified, as the alien ran to the two strange telekinetics fighting in the street.

"Starfire, no!" Ray screamed, but it was too late. Starfire had jumped in front of the boy just as Larkin fired at Ray's feet. Starfire shrieked as she fell through the new hole in the street.

"Starfire!" Larkin muttered, his eyes wide. Immediately he ran to her, trapping her in a black energy bubble and levitating her over to her friends who were watching, awe-struck and terrified from outside the pizza parlor.

"Stay here," the one who looked like Raven insisted. Suddenly, she was knocked off her feet again by the same mailbox that had hit her before.

Face down on the ground, she growled with anger. She turned on her back and propped herself up on her elbows, staring at Ray furiously, who was glaring back with equal malice.

"This is _done_!" Raven hissed. And without another word, a swarm of black energy, darker than anything that had been released by the telekinetic before, shot out of Raven's outstretched hands and struck the boy, throwing him clear off his feet.

"Ray!" Abby shrieked, running to him.

"Larkin!" Robin cried, almost reproachfully, standing up.

"Raven?" Starfire said, confused.

"Rae?" Beast Boy said, frowning as he stood. "What's going on here?"

Cyborg put an arm on Beast Boy's shoulder sadly and forced him back into his seat. "Sit down, man," he said, watching them.

"Raven just pummeled that little kid!" Beast Boy shrieked, almost hysterically.

Cyborg looked at him, a little disturbed. "That's not Raven, BB."

"Ray!" Abby sobbed as she cradled his small body in her arms. He opened his bloodshot eyes briefly and smiled at Abby.

"Are we there yet?" he asked.

She smiled back. "Yes, Ray."

His smile grew to a grin. "Stupid, fat hobbit."

"Huh?" Abby said with a frown. Ray shook his head and frowned at Abby as if he wanted to say more, but his mouth tried to form the words and he couldn't.

_I can't go on much longer... everything is falling down... debris, everywhere... Mother... Angela... Arella... I'm coming home._

_**No,** _a voice insisted violently in Ray's head. **_I won't go down like this. I refuse to._**

Raven turned to Larkin's powers, struggling to be released. Inwardly, she smiled.

_**Time to go out with a bang.**_

"Ray?" Abby dropped him in fear and stepped away as he radiated with purple energy. Soon, a purple bubble rose him off the ground, tendrils of the energy lashing out with a crack, like flames of the sun. The energy spider webbed out from Ray's tiny body, threads of purple weaving around cars and buildings, avoiding humans and innocents, looping through tunnels and sewer systems, all focused on one being standing in the middle of the street looking horrified.

Larkin stared up at the purple tendrils reaching towards him.

"No..." he whispered. "She can't... this is impossible."

And for a split second

He saw the crimson sky

The owl screech

And the crow fly by

And the Raven perched

Above his door

Softly cooing

Nevermore...

**_You see, Larkin_, **she said, **_This time, the orchid's fighting back._**

They watched, transfixed. Robin made a move to do something, but Starfire put an arm on his shoulder and just with her touch, he relented, as if reminded that there were others he needed to protect, should something go wrong. Neither looked at each other. Both had eyes transfixed on the scene before them.

A dome of red emanated from Raven as she tried to fight the invading purple. But it was no use. The rays from the violate sun shattered the crimson shield and Raven screamed an endless shriek that destroyed all their eardrums, louder than thunder, taller than mountains...

But she hadn't opened her mouth.

No one had heard anything.

No sound had escaped her lips as she fell to the concrete street, unconscious.

Simultaneously, the boy surrounded in purple floating in the sky dropped to the ground.

Slowly, the Titans walked over to her and looked down, every expression strangely inscrutable.

"Is it over?" Beast Boy asked tentatively, his voice a mere whisper.

"No." The reply was firm, and could only have come from Robin's mouth.

"So... who is she?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire fell to her knees and lifted Raven's head into her lap, stroking her hair.

"He was–" Robin started, but Starfire quickly cut him off.

"_She_," she insisted, staring down at the girl in her lap, "was our friend."

Abby stared at the Titans in the middle of the street, not a single one of them paying any heed to the boy unconscious in the gutter of the streets of Jump City. Instead, she was the one that approached him, cautiously at first, but deliberately with a steady stride. He seemed so far away.

She kneeled down and, as Starfire had done with Raven's body, Abby lifted the boy's head– Ray's head, Jordan's head, but nonetheless, just a head– and placed it on her lap. She felt his pulse, but he had long since been dead, long before she had ever met him. And somehow, she knew that.

A strange clarity overwhelmed her. She shivered. Somehow, she knew it all. The past, present and future, all inextricably bound to this moment.

"So," Raven said, staring at Larkin with a grim smile. They stood in the middle of a valley, violate orchids thriving wherever Raven stepped.

"So," said Larkin, barely audible as he lay defeated at Raven's feet.

The girl obviously didn't understand. She laughed. "Come on, Larkin," she said. "Aren't you going to fight me? Or at least throw a crippling insult my way? You're not just going to give up, are you?"

"You have won..." Larkin whispered. "What do you expect me to do?"

Raven's smile faded. "What's changed in you?"

Larkin looked up to meet her eyes. "I stole a body that was too powerful for me."

"I don't understand..." Raven said.

Larkin turned away. "You wouldn't, would you? Now I see. Why you enjoy your emotional prison, never connecting. Because if you did, you would feel as I do. Pain and guilt. You have hurt them more than I ever could by refusing them. I tried so hard to be you, Raven, I succeeded wholly, and accidentally unleashed your memories and bonds to these... these _people._"

"And Tameranian," Raven added.

Larkin chuckled. "And Tameranian," he acknowledged. "I became you. In fact, I was more you than you ever could have been to them."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Raven asked, half curious, half offended, sitting down next to him in the grass. Birds were chirping all around them as they sat in the shade of a great oak.

Larkin smiled at her and his hand held her cheek, lovingly. "I loved them," he whispered. "I loved them as you love them. But the difference between us, you and I, is that I shared that love with them. And I welcomed their love in return. And we were happy."

"We were happy before you came, too," said Raven coldly, pulling away from his touch. "Do not try to deceive me, Larkin. I know what you were going to do to them."

"_Were _going to... Oh, Raven, you silly goose, don't get me wrong!" Larkin said, rising. "I intend on fully fulfilling my plans for them."

Raven stepped away from him. "What?" she gasped. "But... but you can't! I destroyed your vessel! It's dead, _I'm_ dead for Christ's sake! How can you–"

"Raven, my silly songbird," Larkin said with a laugh, shaking his head. "You are not dead. If you were, I don't think either one of us would be here right now. You just stunned me into my unconscious."

"You and your damn coma thing!" Raven snapped, furiously. "Why the hell can't your powers kill something when I tell it to???"

Larkin smiled. "Don't fret, Songbird, your worries will soon be over, and soon you shall be at peace."

Larkin drew a sword from the sheathe around his waist.

"No..." Raven whispered. "You... you changed. You weren't like this a minute ago."

"I've made a decision," Larkin said simply, advancing. "A minute ago, I was overwhelmed by emotion, an ugly thing I tried to banish years ago– a thing I tried to save you from. But it seems that no matter what part of your subconscious you chose to send them to, they always come back. And now, I see what I must do with this emotion. Yes. Your friends don't deserve you. And you don't deserve them. They deserve someone who'll love them openly and without fear. They deserve someone to look after them. I love them, Raven, and I will not let you hurt them any longer."

"Even without the physical wounds of insanity, you're still mad," Raven hissed. "You have never known love and you never will. Your twisted mind has never been capable of–"

"I have loved more powerfully than you can ever dream!" Larkin screamed. "I loved _you_. I took you in, gave you power, and you rejected me. I treated you like my own daughter–"

"While you _neglected_ your own son!" Raven retorted. "Is that how you treat your children, Larkin? Pressure and pain? All he wanted was for you to be proud of him. And you pushed him to the edge and as he wavered there, trying not to fall, you just told him to jump. You really are the most sadistic bastard I've ever come across. And believe me, I've come across plenty! You never loved me. You needed me."

"You're damn right I bloody needed you!" Larkin screamed, tears somehow in his eyes. He got quiet. "You were the only one who could match my skill. And you were only ten years old... You were the only one who had free range inside my head. When you called, I was there. When you were in pain, I was there. I saved your bloody life! Had you gone up against Trigon at that age, you would have surely died! Do you think I wanted to lose you?"

"No," Raven said, her eyes like gray ice. "You didn't want to lose _Trigon_. You're damn _idol_ for God's sake!"

"True," Larkin admitted quietly. "To lose him would have been a great tragedy–"

"He's a goddamn _demon_ Larkin!" Raven screamed. "A ruthless, unhuman _demon_!"

"AND WHAT WOULD YOU CALL ME????" Larkin screamed, waving his sword. He took a deep breath and continued. "What do _you_, Raven... what do you call me?" Larkin looked at his hands. "This?" he said. "This is only a form." He transformed into his snake self. "And this? This is me."

Raven stared at the serpent before her. "You are human," she whispered. "A crazy human, but human nonetheless."

"I am a demon," hissed the snake. "I always was. My mother knew it. She was a demon too. She wore the guise of a human, but she was more evil than anything. But she hated me because she knew I was just like her."

"Larkin..." Raven said, her voice soft. "Larkin, come back to me. I... I'm sorry. Being in Jordan's head... it's given me a whole different point of view of everything. Of the Titans, of life in general, and dammit, Larkin, even you. You're just as much of a victim of life as anyone else on this godforsaken planet."

"Shut up!" the snake roared, smacking Raven with its tail. As she hit a tree, the orchids scattered as the poppies took control. "No! I won't let you trick me! I won't let you have them!"

There was a blast at Raven's feet. The peaceful valley facade crumbled around them and they were in that barren black landscape with crimson skies. Larkin's eyes were flames of hatred as reared his head, bearing his fangs and hissing madly.

"Larkin!" Raven shrieked. "You can't do this! We're on a neutral plane, you'll kill us both!"

"I don't care!" Larkin roared. "For years I have been waiting to exact my revenge on you. But somehow, you have always thwarted me. I will not let you win this time!"

"Is that what all this is about?" Raven screamed up at the beast. "Winning? You told me yourself, you _love_ them! You love them like I do!"

"No, Raven, you are right," said the snake. "I cannot love. I am a demon. And so are you."

With a giant roar, the beast levitated the sword and threw it at the girl, who gasped as she jumped out of the way, her form shifting into a large obsidian bird with angry purple eyes.

"That's it," she screamed. "Time out!"

And with a mighty mental push she forced Larkin out of the plane, forcing him to take on a physical form.

Only there was no physical form for him to take.

Raven quickly returned to her body, but Jordan's corpse lay in Abby's arms, completely inhospitable now that its brain had physically deteriorated inside his small skull.

Instead the fabric of time and dimensions split as a monster took form, making something from nothing, physical from mental, life from death...

Women screamed. Skies turned red. The streets swallowed up parked cars.

Something unnatural was afoot– except it had no feet.

It stood in the center of the destruction, a beast that by all logical means shouldn't exist, _couldn't _exist, not corporeally... But defying all laws of physics, the impossible monster screeched like a banshee in the middle of Jump City, only wanting one thing.

And that one thing stood, ready for a fight, surrounded by her frightened flabbergasted friends, with only a smile on her features.

"Good boy," she said. "Now play dead."


	12. 10:00: No Good Deed Goes Unpunnished

**_Author's Note:_** We're nearing the end hear people. Sniff. This chapter was easy to write, but hard to post. As I told Instant Coffee, it's kinda like dropping a bombshell on y'all. I didn't know how you'd take it... Anyways, next chapter is the last and it's only half written. I'll get it up after exams. Well...

* * *

Chapter 12: 10:00: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Titans stared at Raven in a mixture of awe and fear.

"OK... Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture?" Beast Boy asked, looking at his friends.

Cyborg leaned in close to Robin. "Let me get this straight– that's Raven now, right?"

"I think so..." Robin muttered.

"Ray?!" The call was a question. The four Titans turned to look at the nurse, who had dropped the boy's body and was now staring wide eyed at the snake. She looked like she was about to faint.

Raven turned at the call and gave Abby a wink. "Hang in there, Abby," she said, "and I'll show you what living is."

The snake roared again. In taking physical form, it had sprouted arms and was waving them around madly.

"Hey, don't be cranky," said Raven. "You were the one who wanted to be a demon."

Starfire blinked innocently. "And we are sure this is Raven?" she said, questioningly, looking at Robin for support, who just shrugged, without answer.

"Uh... Rae?"

"Kinda busy here, BB," Raven said, not turning to the confused shape shifter.

"Right," said Beast Boy stepping back. Instead, he directed his question to Robin. "Should we help her?"

"I think this is her fight," Robin said.

The snake's tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped itself around Raven's body, lifting her off the ground.

"Hey Godzilla!"

The snake turned his head at the call.

Robin slapped his hands over his face. "I guess Cyborg missed the memo."

The half-robot had seized the beast's tail and was threatening to pull. Raven's eyes widened in fear and, surprisingly, so did the snake's.

"Cyborg, you dolt!" she screamed. "Get out of there! This thing'll tear you limb from limb!"

"I don't care!" Cyborg screamed back. "It could do the same to you!"

Raven fumed and as a result, a nearby building collapsed in a wave of black energy. "Now see what you made me do? I'm weak and unhappy, now _do as I say!_"

_Raven,_ a voice echoed inside her head._ You know I will not harm your friends._

"Shut up!" Raven screamed aloud, throwing a large block of cement from the fallen building at the snake's head with her telekinesis.

The snake shrieked in pain and dropped the girl. The very second her feet touched the ground, she was off sprinting to the snake's tail where she tackled the half-robot who was holding it.

With a muffled 'oof,' the surprised Titan glared at Raven with his human eye. Raven merely met his glare.

"Stay out of this. This isn't your fight," she ordered.

"Hey," said Cyborg, matching Raven's anger. "Something's been going on and I wanna know what it is. I think you owe us an explanation."

Raven softened, paused, and nodded. "You're right, I do," she said. Then, her eyes narrowed again. "But _not now_, if you don't mind."

"Right," said Cyborg, grinning. "I see you're busy. And, uh, you have a visitor."

Cyborg pointed up behind Raven's shoulder and she looked over it to see the reptilian beast sneering at her with red eyes.

They looked at each other a moment and, for lack of a better plan, Raven turned around and ran.

The snake followed her down the streets of Jump City, smashing bus stops and cars, and even the window of the department store Abby had taken her to only hours before.

_This is good,_ Raven thought._ I need to lead him away from the Titans. I just hope they don't follow me too._

Finally, Raven stopped and the snake did to, confused at this bizarre action from his prey. She turned to him, frowning, looking baffled.

"Larkin!" she called up to him. "What are you fighting for?"

In the chaos, the snake didn't seem to hear her, or perhaps he could no longer understand her human tongue and he launched at her with fangs bared. She instantly jumped into the air and hung there for a moment. She threw another block of cement at the snake's body.

"Honestly!" she screamed again. "What are you here for? If you kill me now, what will you get? What will happen to you?"

Her words seemed to hurt the beast more than any number of cement blocks could and he howled in anguish and fury, swiping at her with his huge tail. She swiftly avoided this attack to.

"Larkin!" she called out to him. "You are, by all biological means, dead. This thing you've made? Not really here. This damage? Undone. You don't even have that shell of a body anymore. It's brain has totally collapsed, thanks to you for speeding the process. Face it, Charles, you don't exist. All that's left is this desperate essence, looking for a life– any life– to take back, to live, to survive. But Charles, look what you've done."

Raven gestured at the streets and buildings within a ten mile radius, smashed by the reptile.

"Look at yourself." She nodded at the beast. "What is your master plan now, Larkin? What are you? Nothing. You're like the monster under a child's bed. You appear to be real, but your nothing more than a figment of my imagination."

The snake roared with anger, snatching Raven in his hands once more. The Titan remained calm as he stared at her with those snake-like red eyes, panting, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth. She smiled.

"You see," she whispered. "There's nothing left for you here. You're tired. Maybe, Larkin, it's time for you to let go."

The snake stared at her a moment, and Raven was unsure of what was to happen next.

In the sky, the full moon hung like a circular picture frame, a window to an alternate reality where everything was white. This reality cast a veil of silver silence over Jump City at that moment, suspending everything in a silent tableaux. It watched the battle through its circular window, silver otherworldly beams refusing to allow the beast to speak or even move.

Raven watched him, suspended animation in the moonlight, waiting for an answer that she wondered would ever come at all.

And then, a cloud floated over the moon and the city was consumed by darkness. An equally dark voice boomed forcefully inside Raven's head and she screamed with the pain it caused.

No.

The snake roared and dropped Raven, who fell to the ground hard. There was a loud crack that reverberated off of the walls of the buildings. Raven cried out in agony again, the terrible snake looming over her.

_You haven't won yet,_ sneered the voice inside her head.

* * *

"Dammit, where'd they go!" Robin cried as the Titans shifted through the debris of fallen buildings, searching for survivors. 

"Gee, that question shouldn't be too hard to answer," Beast Boy replied, pointing down a trashed street. "Just follow Destruction Road."

"I have found the child's body!"

All heads turned at Starfire's call. She looked radiant in the moonlight, floating there holding the corpse of a little boy, brown hair and pale skin. She looked down at him with a pitying expression, then looked up at her friends.

When she next spoke, her voice was quiet. "How could he do this? To such a small child..."

"Starfire, what are you talking about?" Cyborg said.

Starfire looked down at the body in her hands again, so tiny and so cold. "I am beginning to understand. Robin, you were right."

"I think we've figured that much out," said Beast Boy, looking at Robin. But Robin was looking at Starfire.

"What was I right about?" he asked.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "That essence that took control of Raven's body. It was Larkin."

"How can you be sure?" Cyborg asked after a moment of silence.

Starfire looked down at the boy with a tenderly tragic expression, like a mother mourning the death of her newborn child. Her eyes half-closed, she wondered what he might have been, saw him growing up to join their forces against his father, fight with the Titans and with Raven, against people who would abuse such powerful magic. She saw him playing soccer in a park near Leicester Square, although she'd never been to England, she knew every detail of the park. The hole in the tree where he and his friends hid their football cards, the secret hollow hidden among reeds and leaves where they discussed David Beckham's latest triumph, the pond where they skipped stones... He was laughing and giggling until his mother came to pick him up. She saw the collision at the stop light, the glass shattering, the terror in his eyes, the depression in his heart when the authorities brought him to his neglecting father's apartment.

And somehow, she felt the need as he did to please him, to have love in his life again, to have a home again. And she felt the disappointment and knew the moment Jordan realized that he would never be any good to his father. No, not like his precious Raven was.

All he ever wanted was to be loved.

Starfire didn't understand where this clarity came from, but she somehow understood it all now. The universe was laying itself down at her feet and for a moment, she felt into the future, and knew exactly what was to happen next.

The knowledge weighed heavy on her heart and she pitied Raven for it, for it would be Raven who suffered most of all from its consequences.

Slowly, Starfire bent down and kissed the boy's forehead, silently thanking him. She lowered herself to the ground and carefully laid the boy down at her friends' feet.

"Starfire..."

But Starfire silenced Robin, putting a finger to her lips as she kneeled down and looked at the boy.

"Quickly," she whispered. "There is much we must do be for Raven returns."

"Shouldn't we follow her?" Beast Boy asked.

"There is no need," said Starfire. "In the end, things will turn out right."

"How can you be so sure?" Cyborg asked again. "Star... what's going on? Who's that kid? How do you know?"

"This child," Starfire said as she rose to her feet, still looking at the child, "once went by the name of Jordan Larkin. He was... the son of Raven's worst enemy. She spoke to me of it this morning, before she changed. Larkin destroyed him. How I know the rest, I cannot say. There are some things better left a mystery."

Robin smiled at her. "Of course," he said.

She looked up at her friends. "There is much we must do," she repeated.

"Like...?" Beat Boy prompted.

Starfire smiled at him. "First," she said. "We must give this boy a proper burial."

"And we will," said Robin. "In a minute."

He took Starfire aside while the other two continued looking for survivors.

"Star..." he said, grinning at her. "Of course. It only makes sense that the most empathetic of the group should feel his aura."

"I do not comprehend," Starfire said, frowning.

"I told you I was researching all day," Robin explained. "Stumbled across the Empathy Haunt. He's been searching for peace, Star. He gained it through you."

"That boy has long been dead," Starfire whispered. "It seems fitting that he has at last found what he was searching for. And I'm glad I could be of help."

* * *

Raven glared up at the snake, plotting her next move. He stared back, no doubt planning his. 

Suddenly, the snake's eyes narrowed in confusion and there was the sound of a stone knocking on wood. The snake turned from Raven to see a petite brunette throwing stones at him. He looked at Raven skeptically, whose eyes merely widened in horror.

"Leave her _out_ of this, Larkin!" Raven ordered through gritted teeth.

_You are in no position to make demands, Songbird,_ he cooed inside her head.

"You said you wouldn't hurt my friends!" Raven screamed, on the verge of hysterics.

The demon grinned hideously. _Aye,_ he replied. _Any friends that I consider worth saving. _She_ is not one of them._

"She has done you no harm!" Raven protested. "She has no part in this. Let her be!"

_Wrong,_ Larkin hissed. _She has done harm by assisting you. I have often said that no good deed should go unpunished._

"Come and get me, yeh big bully!" Abby screamed, throwing another rock at the snake's head.

_My, what a nuisance,_ Larkin's voice muttered inside Raven's head as the snake turned to face the nurse, looking annoyed.

"Abby, _no_!" Raven screamed, trying to get up and run. A sharp dagger shot up through the earth and pierced straight through Raven's right leg and she shrieked with painful surprise. She looked down to see that her leg was swollen, a bump sticking out at an odd angle at her knee.

"Shit!" she muttered, recognizing the break immediately. She looked up at Abby, desperately wondering what trick she should try to pull. All the pressure and stress of that night culminated

And in that split second where Raven lost herself, she lost Abby.

The world spun around her as she realized it.

Abbywas lost to her long before Larkin slithered her way, his bite reaching straight for the jugular.

She jumped aside, but it was no use. He missed his specific target, but his fangs still clamped on her shoulder.

But she didn't scream. She didn't run. She just stared out at him blankly and fell against the wall, sliding to the ground with a small quiet sigh that echoed in Raven's head.

"No..." Raven whispered as she found herself again. But she knew she would never find Abby again.

Immediately she quick-fixed her leg andlevitated into the air. She flew over to Abby, instantly by her side, cradling her in her arms.

"Abby..." she said. "Just hold on."

"... Ray?" Abby whispered, her voice hoarse. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Abby, yes!" Raven said, the tears in her eyes bringing with it a torrent of dark energy that swarmed around she and Abby. And for a moment, it was only them and nothing else. Unintentionally yet instinctively, Raven was using her powers to protect Abby, to make her last conscious moments in this dark city quiet ones.

Larkin tried to get past the barrier created by Raven's misery, but it sparked with dangerous energy and he knew if he touched it with even the tip of his slithery tongue, it would fry him to a crisp.

Raven's emotions were the trigger to her dark powers. Normally when they escaped, they created havoc. But for once, they created peace.

"Abby, it's me..." Raven whispered to Abby. "It's Ray."

"The Ray I know is dead... dead..." Abby whispered, closing her eyes and turning her head from side to side.

"Abby, look at me!" Raven ordered, the tears spilling down her cheeks. She forced Abby's chin up for her to look her in the eyes. Abby stared a moment and her mouth opened slightly in awe as she stared into Raven's eyes. Finally, she smiled.

"It is you..." she whispered. "I'm so glad you're OK. Did I save you?"

"You saved me, Abby," Raven said, smiling. "You saved me from a number of things. You saved me."

"Good," Abby said, her breath becoming heavy. "I can't feel much anymore, Ray. Something got into my arm and now... I can't feel anymore. It's slithering inside me, oozing, hurting, but I can't feel."

"It's OK, Abby," Raven said, soothingly. "I'm here. I'll be here for you until help comes."

"You were the only one who understood..." Abby muttered.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Raven said. "I never wanted you to get hurt."

"Ray," Abby said, a dopey smile taking over her pale features. "You never hurt me. You saved me. You gave me the adventure I always wanted. I will never forget you for it. You've given me the chance to... chance to..."

"Chance to what, Abby?" Raven asked, her voice trembling. "Abby, the chance to what?"

Abby's eyes rolled, but she blinked and came back to smile warmly at Raven. "It'll be OK, Raven. I knew this was coming. I could feel it, by the pizza parlor, with you in my arms... and now I'm in your arms... Are we there yet?"

"Yes," Raven nodded. "We are. But I don't know how I could have come so far without you."

"Past, present... future..." Abby went on. "A continuum. This is how it's supposed to be. Thank you, Ray, for giving me the chance to..."

"Abby?" Raven said, her voice weak. "Abby?"

Abby closed her eyes and took in a deep, shuddering breath. "Die..."

The body went limp in Raven's arms. Raven closed her eyes and laid it down calmly on the cement sidewalk.

She looked up at Larkin through her black bubble, her face inscrutable, but her eyes glowing red.

"How dare you," she said, her voice low. "How _dare_ you!"

There was a scream and a burst of blackness as Raven's energy bubble expanded, throwing Larkin off his feet and through building walls before he smashed against a wall blocks away.

Raven advanced on him deliberately and calmly as she walked down the street, ignoring the dulled pain in her knee, her steps echoing off the tree trunks of the concrete jungle.

"You try to deceive me, you try to deceive my friends. You try to discredit me, you try to control my friends. You try to kill me, you try to kill my friends. How does it feel, knowing you've succeeded in one of your endeavors. I'll tell you something, though. You failed in all the rest. You want to know why? Because you can't beat me. You can never beat me. And you'll never beat the Titans either."

She looked down at him then, the bloody serpent, coughing up his nonexistent lungs, one arm totally fried from the blow, the other twitching. One eye was sealed shut with dried blood but the other looked up at her with meek fear.

But Larkin knew, as all who studied such a race would, that an angry demon of Azarath is never to be messed with.

He had incurred Raven's deadly wrath, and he was resigned to pay the price.

_No,_ Raven told him with a forceful mental shove that sent shivers of pain through his body and he winced. _I am no demon. I am not like you. _

_We are all demons, my little Songbird,_ came Larkin's voice._ We just wear different guises._

_And you said you wanted to do good,_ Raven hissed in disgust. _You told a naive child that she could do good in the world, and dammit, she believed you. And in that sense, you helped her become who she is today. And in that sense, she helped you become who you are today._

"But you're not," she said allowed.

_I beg your pardon?_ Larkin said, confused.

"You're just not," Raven said simply, nonchalantly. "You became... nothing, Larkin. What has this quest for revenge reduced you to? A quivering, formless, unnatural figment of the imagination, regretting everything. And you are regretting everything, aren't you?"

There was a pause.

_I do not deny it,_ the snake replied in thought-speech.

Raven folded her arms.

Begone from here, Larkin. You don't belong here and you know it. There is nothing left. You're dead, Larkin, so why won't you let yourself accept it? I wonder if you were ever really alive to begin with. I'm sorry our lives took different courses. You were blind with ambition, the demonism of power, the corruption of a sinful nature. You're right. You are more demon than most humans. But you're more human than most demons. And that's why you regret.

The snake said nothing, merely looking at the girl standing over him, no longer in fear, but in respect.

_I am proud of you,_ he said. _You have finally grown beyond what I can teach you. I wish you the best. I accept your defeat over me. I will leave you in peace._

"That isn't a lie," Raven said aloud. "Run, Larkin. Run far, far away and never return. Never haunt my dreams again. Never torment my friends again. Never destroy another life."

The snake moved its head, trying to nod. _I will leave you in peace_, Larkin repeated. _But please, know this. I was changed by your friends. They reminded me what being human was. After so many years, I had forgotten. And I did try to help them. I wanted so much to hang onto them. And if that meant getting rid of you, so be it. You betrayed me._

"Then I guess we're even," said Raven. "Because you betrayed me too."

_I suppose we are,_ Larkin acknowledged._ I wanted so badly to destroy you. But now, I am sorry for the pain I have caused you. And I am sorry for Jordan. I tried to make amends with your friends. But, it is as I always say..._

"No good deed goes unpunished," Raven whispered. She kneeled down and placed a hand kindly on her old mentor's scaley head. "Goodbye, Larkin."

Slowly, the snake's breathing quickened and then slowed and he exhaled through his huge nostrils for the last time, closing his remaining eye.

Beneath her fingers, Raven felt the particles dissipate and the beast was gone in a gust of wind, floating out towards the sea.

Dimensions closed, time went on, and Raven began her long walk back to the pizza parlor in the silence of the city.

Offhandedly, she raised her head and looked at the clock tower.

11:02

* * *

**_Author's Note (Revisited)_**: Ok, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I didn't realize how well liked Abby's character was gonna be. It pained me, to just drop her like that, because I liked her to. But (and I hate to say it) that was my intention from the beginning. It may seem like the easy way out of a plot hole, but actually it was quite the hard way out. I had all these other ideas of how she would help Raven and they'd part on good terms or whatever, but this makes so much more sense. And it puts Raven through more torture. And... well... more next chapter. Again, I'm sorry!


	13. Epilogue: Wash Away

**_Author's Note:_** First off, happy birthday to the wonderfullest chicker-doodle in the world. Er, that would be Heather... Yup, it's her birthday. I just finished this today and I figured I'd post it as her birthday present. Hope you like, Pagemasta! Well... this made me sad. It's the longest chapter, which I think is kinda funny. I dunno. I feel like something's missing. But that might just be me. Find me again at the bottom of the chapter for further notes on it! Zip!

* * *

Chapter 13: Epilogue: Wash Away

The Titans watched her approach and somehow, they knew to say nothing.

Slowly and silently, she walked over towards the pizza parlor, footsteps echoing, and sat down at a table outside the restaurant, staring blankly out across infinity.

Her fellow Titans followed her slowly and soon they were six feet away from the table she occupied.

Beast Boy was the first to break the tense air.

"So, uh, did you kick some ass?" he asked, chuckling slightly.

She did not reply.

Beast Boy looked to Robin curiously. "OK, are we sure that's the real Raven?"

Robin was watching her, almost in a trance. "Positive," he replied.

"Yes," said Starfire, looking at Robin. "Robin would know should this person be an imposter."

"So... what's eating her?" Cyborg asked rhetorically.

The other Titans needlessly shrugged in reply.

Eventually, wringing her hands uncertainly, Starfire dared to approach her silent friend. Biting her lip, she reached out to her with tender words. "Raven, my friend," she said, taking the seat across from her. "I know you have experienced a great ordeal."

Her companion remained still.

Starfire looked down at the table, then reached across it and clasped Raven's hands in hers. "I have seen your past," she whispered, "and I know your victory was bittersweet. You won back your body, but you lost so much more."

Raven's eyes seemed to focus for the first time on the alien girl seated across from her. She paused, then nodded.

Starfire smiled at her warmly as she rose. "I am glad you have come back to us," she said. "Now come home with us."

She waited patiently. Raven watched her a moment, then followed suit, rising to meet her friend.

They stared at each other mutely a moment, their faces twin images of inscrutability, but their eyes deep with meaning.

Unexpectedly, Raven threw her arms around Starfire and the Tameranian gratefully returned it, though a slight feeling of deja vu made her shiver, and she too experienced some of what Raven had lost. For she, too, had on some strange level, lost a very dear friend.

Raven knew this. And she hugged Starfire all the tighter for it. No tears escaped her eyes, however the bittersweet agony could be distinctly heard in the whisper only Starfire's ears could hear.

"Thank you."

* * *

It was over. Whatever had happened, and most of them were still not clear on the details, it was over. The days all seemed to blur together after that exceptionally long one. The others simply left Raven alone, for it was obvious she needed space and time to straighten things out in her head.

Though everything returned to relatively normal, Beast Boy noticed a difference in the tower.

It was quieter.

Not that he wasn't having burping contests with Cyborg or loud kareoke rounds with Starfire or turning up the volume on the TV while game-stationing it just to get the full effect. All the sights and sounds that defined the Titans were still present. It was something entirely different that was absent. An unusual sound, present for only a day and then gone again with the wind.

Beast Boy didn't know what to make of it.

"Dude, you gonna play?" Cyborg asked from the couch.

"In a minute," the shape shifter replied, heading to the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and smiled at the bowl of whatever-it-was that sat on the bottom shelf, bubbling and threatening to grow mold.

He found himself lifting the bowl off of the shelf and placing it on the counter, uncovering the saran wrap and just stared at it.

The girl that had lived in this tower for just under twelve hours didn't leave much behind, and definitely nothing tangible. She took everything with her when she left. But she did leave one thing.

The memory took hold of his imagination. How could that _not_ have been Raven? He'd felt closer to her than he ever had before, excepting maybe when he was inside her mirror. But she'd seemed so... real to him somehow. It bothered him, and he was afraid to talk to her about it.

He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he missed her laughter. He missed the way she'd just sit there in the kitchen with him, talking about pointless stuff, even the time when she gave him tabasco instead of water.

But then, he reminded himself, the real Raven probably wouldn't have done that.

He thought back now on some of the little quirks she did that were rather un-Raven like. And somehow, he didn't seem to care much.

Even when she had been with them, something inside him _told_ him that it wasn't really her– somehow, he could just tell. And yet, he'd denied it to himself. 'No,' he'd thought. 'This has to be Raven. Because if it's not...'

He never could find an end to that sentence.

And since she wasn't...?

He shook his head to clear it and sat down at the table, something inside him feeling strangely hollow. His stomach began to twist.

_No,_ he thought. _That _wasn't_ Raven. But underneath it all, Starfire's right. She _was_ my friend._

There was no other answer. Beast Boy didn't know what he would do if this affirmation proved to be untrue. To feel so close to someone and have them be... _wicked???_ No, it just didn't fit. It would be like...

Terra.

He shook his head again, ridding himself of those thoughts. He couldn't go through that again. Not now, not ever.

She had to be his friend. It wasn't Larkin in there, it couldn't have been. And yet, it was.

It was a perplexing paradox.

In a burst of fury he lifted the bowl of whatever-it-was and threw it hard against the kitchen wall. The strange doughy liquid splattered over the wall, sliding down it like wet spaghetti, joining the plastic bowl on the floor.

"Beast Boy?"

The call was Starfire's. Beast Boy's eyes went wide as he realized what he'd done.

"Shit!" he muttered through gritted teeth. "I'm not cleaning that up!"

Instantly, he was a mouse and he hid in a hole in a bottom cupboard. Peaking his nose out of the hole, he saw Starfire purple boots walk in, pause, do a 180, pause again.

"Beast Boy?"

The mouse was silent.

Finally, the boots walked out of the kitchen.

But Beast Boy didn't leave his dark hiding place.

Still in mouse form, he sank against the wooden wall with a sigh, still running over the unbelievable facts in his mind.

Raven might have been abducted by aliens and replaced with a clone. Raven might have been under the control of evil zombie monsters. Raven might even have been made Slade's apprentice. And things would be OK. Because he could have accepted that. Because he would have taken definite action against this obviously evil scheme and freed Raven from whatever captivity she was in. That's what they did, after all. Save people.

But wasn't it Larkin, Charles Larkin, who saved Starfire down by the pizzeria? Wasn't it Larkin who didn't bat an eyelash when Cyborg snatched his tail? Wasn't it Larkin who saved them all from that huge magic snake that was about to crush them all to death?

And wasn't it Larkin who, in the end, turned out to be the real snake, coiling around their minds and manipulating them as Robin had so often tried to tell them?

Beast Boy decided then and there that it was way too much for him to sort out. He remembered what Larkin did to Robin, what Larkin had done to _him_. He remembered, also, Robin and Starfire's accounts of what Larkin had done to Raven. And the Larkin he supposedly spent twelve hours with had seemed... well, nothing like the one he'd heard about. Definitely not the Larkin who possessed Raven six months ago and threw him against a rock.

Unconsciously, Beast Boy rubbed a scar across his stomach.

He didn't understand. He probably never would. And no matter how much all the facts denied it, or how his head kept saying he was wrong, his heart kept telling him that his first gut instinct about the girl that lived in Titans' Tower for twelve hours that day was correct. She was not evil. Just a little lonely.

And deep down, he pitied that girl more than anyone else in the world. Especially now that she was never coming home.

* * *

She looked up at the office number, unconvinced she had the right one. She looked skeptically back down the hall at Annie, the secretary who looked like a disorganized but neurotic librarian as she flipped frantically through papers on her desk scattering them everywhere.

Raven shook her head and sighed. Timidly, she knocked on the door.

A gruff voice answered her.

"Come in, come in," the voice said, annoyed.

Mutely, she turned the metal doorknob and entered the office and took a seat in front of his desk. The man in the chair wasn't looking at her. He was finishing something up on his computer, his eyes on the monitor but his head inclined towards Raven, getting ready to turn to face her.

He had brown hair that looked as though it had just been cut but his brown stubbly beard looked like it needed a little attention. His white coat was neatly pressed and stainless but his purple tie with cows on it was a little tacky. His eyes were a deep and vibrant brown, though there were lines at the corners and bags underneath. Nonetheless, his eyes shone with an inner vigor, like he was the Energizer Bunny that just kept going and going and going...

Probably from gallons of coffee a day.

As he typed the last few words and closed the document, his eyes flew to his guest with a smile– then he realized who she was and he nearly fell back in his chair.

Collecting himself, he shook his head and apologized. "I'm sorry," he said. "We don't see you people in here often."

"Hm, my people, indeed," Raven muttered.

The man was flustered. "I didn't mean–"

"I'm sure you didn't," Raven interrupted.

Both persons were silent a moment as Raven stared at him inscrutably. He began to get hot under his collar and he loosened his tie and opened a window with a cough.

"So, uh, what brings you to Jump City General?" he asked when he could tolerate her staring no longer.

She didn't answer. She didn't know how to. She'd never thought that it would be so difficult to say.

"Abby Clarke is dead."

Silence answered her unasked question.

It was hard to tell what he was thinking. His reaction wasn't a predictable one. As she spoke the first words, he had watched her intently, obviously not expecting the last one. However when that fateful 'd' word did escape her lips, nothing changed in his expression other than a fleeting eyebrow raise and a blink, perhaps even a curt and silent gasp. And then there were no more words.

"For some reason, I thought you should know..."

What else did she need to say?

"I don't know what else you want me to say..." Raven muttered, looking away towards a corner in the wall. "I'm not very good at this, I'm sorry."

The doctor sighed as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, putting his fingers together. "It's alright," he said. "I know how strange those words can sound when you say them. I have to do it every day. My God, Abby Clarke... there's a name I haven't heard in a while."

He sighed again but said no more, staring off distantly at the ceiling as if lost in a daydream. "So what did it, in the end?" he said at last, sounding distant. "The flu? Some crazy bacterial infection? Bad cold?"

"Try giant snake," Raven said coolly, annoyed at his casual demeanor.

This seemed to snap him out of his day dream and he looked at her confused.

"She didn't die of AIDS," Raven clarified, eying him pointedly. "I mean, that's what you assumed, isn't it?"

"Well, it's been years–" he said, flustered. "I just assumed, since that's why she left, to deal with it, and, you know it... Wait, how... Why are you here, telling me this? And you, of all people?"

"Do you have a problem with cynical female superheroes, Dr. Langley?" Raven asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No," he said with a small laugh. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Raven interrupted.

Langley sighed again and put his hands over his face. "Abby, Abby, Abby... How was she, kid? Before she died?"

"Don't call me kid," Raven said evenly.

"We kinda lost touch after she left JC General," Langley muttered, more to himself than Raven it seemed. "God, what a woman. Always up for anything. You know, kid,"– and Raven frowned at this– "we were on a Ferris wheel at the fair once and she asked me, and I mean seriously asked me, if when we were at the top she'd be able to touch a star. I laughed, but she was dead serious."

"So what'd you say?" Raven asked, her voice calm.,

He sighed, remembering. "I said, 'Doll, when you're up there, you can touch anything.' So then she asked if she'd get stardust on her fingers and I told her not to worry because it didn't stain."

Raven smiled weakly as he sighed again. He wasn't as bad a guy as she had originally thought. "So was this before or after you learned she was HIV positive?"

He paused a moment as he frowned to remember. "I think... I think it was after, actually."

Raven's lips twitched into a brief smile again and she rose to her feet. "Well, thank you, Dr. Langley, this has been very enlightening."

"Glad to be of help," Langley said, rising to his feet as well, confused at her sudden move to leave. "Where are you off to so fast?"

"Oh, you know," Raven said with a shrug and a wink. "Villains to catch, lives to save."

The wink seemed to stun Langley and he blinked. "I thought you were the humorless one?"

"Abby taught an old dog some new tricks," Raven said simply. "And then some."

He smiled. "I'll be she died fighting."

Raven returned his smile. "You don't know how true those words are."

* * *

"How is she?"

His large stature stood in the half-light of the cluttered room, staring at it's only other occupant: a small teenager hunched over his desk. The latter looked up at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

Cyborg sighed and looked down. "I mean, how is she? Is she dealing? I mean, you would know, wouldn't you?"

Robin looked away from him and back at the work at his desk, mutely. There was a strange silence.

Cyborg licked his lips. "Well, you know, she hasn't been talking much... not that she ever talks much, but... Well, she's been locking herself away a lot more frequently. And, well, I guess that's, well, _normal_ for her, isn't it? It just seems so... so unnatural now somehow, after that whole episode last week. I mean, he was only in her body for a day and he still impacted all our lives immensely. Obviously, her most of all, but... But with him in there, the tower was... different somehow. And Rob, man... I hate to say it, but I'm kinda scared."

Robin blinked but didn't look up. "Scared of what?"

"Scared of her. But mostly, scared of, well, me." Cyborg waited for Robin to ask what he meant, but his friend was silent. Sighing, he continued. "I mean... what if I treat her differently now? What if I don't like that she's reverted back to her normal self? I liked her fine before, and then she changed and... Well, I liked that new Raven a lot too, basically because I thought she _was_ still Raven and the fact that she was opening up really made me happy for her. And now, she's more closed than she ever was before, talking less, hiding more... What if I hold some grudge that she doesn't deserve? She's my... well, she's a good friend of mine, Robin. I don't want to..."

"Cyborg," Robin interrupted harshly. The half-robot stopped and looked up, but the boy's eyes were still on the work in front of him. "Listen to me. You said it. You liked Raven how she was before. Now, she's back and she just needs a little time and space before she can come back to us. And you'll remember her, and you'll... you'll love her for it. I hardly think there's an issue here."

"Dammit," Cyborg muttered. "Why do I always have to be the one who feels like shit after all these crazy mind games?"

"I think this time, we all do," Robin said.

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "Beast Boy feels like shit because he lost the Raven he always wanted and he was betrayed yet again. You feel like shit because you thought everyone was against you, and you felt helpless at that scene, Robin– don't deny it, I saw it– and it killed you. Standing there, watching her fight. You were the one who held the rest of us back, but I know you. You have an instinct to fight, to protect. And you couldn't. Not in a fight like that. And now, _you_ feel betrayed because she won't even _look_ at you. And Starfire... Hell, I don't know what the hell that girl's on, but whatever it is, I want it. She's all sunshine and roses again. As if it all doesn't matter. But she feels it. I know she does. Somewhere."

"And you?" Robin said after a moment.

"Me?" Cyborg laughed. "I feel like shit for the same reason I did last time: I feel like an idiot. I feel like I should have known it all along. I should have never trusted Larkin. I should have joined your side sooner. And I feel like somehow, all over again, I let her down. And that I'll continue to let her down. Robin... can I accept her again? Can I accept the way I let her down?"

Robin swivelled around in his chair to finally face his friend. "Cyborg, look. You did nothing wrong. You did all you could do. And when it came down to it, you were always on her side. Hell, did you see the way she freaked when you grabbed that snake's tail? She understands, Cyborg. I think that, like her, you just need a little time. As do the rest of us."

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks, man." Cyborg gave his leader a weak smile as he turned to leave.

"And Cyborg?" The named Titan paused. Robin smiled at his back, though looked rather awkward. "Thanks for backing me up. It really... means a lot... to me. And to Raven."

Cyborg smiled to himself. "Anytime, man."

* * *

"Perhaps you would permit me to sit with you?" The request was innocent enough. Silently, Raven acquiesced with a nod.

Starfire sat down next to Raven on the rocks and hugged her knees. For a long moment, she didn't speak as she watched Raven skip stones as fluidly as she had done a week ago. The deja vu was uncanny. Raven had been by her side only a week ago and they had shared an intimate moment of her past here. Only it wasn't Raven. It wasn't even her past. It was Larkin's. She realized that now.

"Your stones are skipping well," Starfire commented quietly. Raven said nothing. Starfire looked at her reflection in the water and for the first time wondered about the reassurance of physical appearances. Her pale skin, her long red tresses, even her green eyes were no real indication of who she was. And these trivial things were no real indication of who Raven was either. And yet, that seemed to be all they knew.

All but Robin, Starfire reminded herself.

She looked up at the telekinetic, skipping stones as if Starfire wasn't even there. She would have given anything just to know her at that moment, to get inside her and feel her...

She blinked. Robin was not the only one who knew what it was like to be Raven.

"It seems that you are getting used to traveling between bodies, are you not Raven?" she said with a smile. Raven looked up at her blankly.

"What do you... Oh." And she turned back to skipping stones. Starfire was a bit disappointed with her dull recognition. She had hoped that by that comment she could identify with Raven's situation.

"I..." she began. "I wish there was someway... for me to understand you."

This caught Raven's attention and she looked up at the girl, but now, Starfire was staring out across the water. "I do not think I need to apologize for anything I have done wrong as Cyborg seems to believe," she said. "He feels he has betrayed you somehow by not recognizing Larkin. But I believe it was not our folly that allowed him to deceive us. I believe... it was yours." Starfire paused as there was an empathetic pain in her heart, knowing she had hurt Raven. The telekinetic looked away.

"You're right," she said simply.

"You did not give me a chance to explain–"

"I don't need to," Raven said. She turned and looked at Starfire again who slowly turned to meet her gaze. "I know what you meant. You don't know me well enough to determine me from my worst enemy."

There was an odd paused as Starfire bit her lip, finding her words. "I... care deeply for you, Raven. You are more of a sister to me than my own blood kin. But Larkin was seated in the same place you now occupy only a week ago, telling me of his past. I believed it to be your past. I was in your body too, Raven, and yet I know so little about your mind, your heart, your soul. I would... I would like to understand you, as Robin understands you."

Raven smiled one of her rare gems of a smile that glowed in the gray sunlight as she placed a kind hand on Starfire's shoulder. "Starfire..." she said, slowly. "_Without_ being in my head... you understand me better than... well, better than any _guy _ever could. You're right. I haven't shared much of my thoughts or past with you or the rest of the Titans for that matter. It's probably because I made that mistake before and it took a lot from me. But Starfire, without knowing, without seeing, you understand. Robin... well, we have a link. I've denied it for too long. He gets me because he felt what I felt those six months ago. But you don't have to fall into someone's head to understand them. You just have to... be there. Beside them. Like... like now."

"But Robin–" Starfire began.

"Look," said Raven with a small laugh. "I can see you're not convinced. Let me put it this way. I was in and out of Larkin's head. And even when I discovered his deeper intentions for me and I thought I knew him inside out, I didn't. I didn't know Larkin at all until last week. And I only fully understood him seconds before he died. He wasn't wicked to the core, like I'd presume. Things are more than black and white. To understand someone, you don't have to be in their head. You just... have to love them."

Starfire smiled. "So by your definition," she said after a pause, "you... loved Larkin. Before he died."

Raven nodded slowly. "I suppose I did."

Starfire sighed and looked down, then up at Raven again. "Thank you."

"For what?" Raven said.

"Just... for being my friend."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "That was probably the corniest thing you've _ever_ said to me."

Starfire tossed her head back and laughed loudly. Then, she jumped to her feet. "Come!" she exclaimed. "We must show our friends that you have returned to us!"

"Uh, thanks Star, but there's something I have to do..." Raven muttered.

* * *

The clouds were crowding over the horizon and bulging to the point of bursting. There was a rumble of thunder off in the distance. However, the girl standing there, in the middle of the deserted beach, didn't seem to care.

She sat down on an algae covered rock, painted black by years of being swallowed up, spat out, and swallowed up again by the ocean. The tide was out and there were a hundred scattered tide pools across the beach with starfish and anemones waiting for the water to spill back over them. Soon, it would come, but not from the sea. The clouds above threatened to unleash their fury.

The sea was ageless, Raven observed. It went on and on in all directions, and it remained constant yet ever-changing. It was the mother of all life. On each frothy wave, it carried many secrets of the past and future. For the first time, she saw the poetry of it, what Abby had tried to convey.

"_Remind me: when all this is over, I have to show you the ocean."  
_"_Abby, maybe you forget. I'm a Titan. I live on the water."  
_"_Yeah, but you haven't seen the ocean like I have... Even in the gray clouds, amongst all that water... It's huge, really, and gorgeous, and even in the stormy air you could still smell time itself on its waves... God, I sound like some cheesy Hallmark employee. But, well... You know, that sea smell, salt and froth, and... it makes me pensive. It seemed endless, kinda like everything else did when I was your age. But like everything else, even the ocean has a limit. But it at least lasts. It lasts forever."_

But the ocean wasn't the only thing that could last. Abby wasn't gone. Not entirely. Not ever.

Somehow, Raven found peace in all that gray. She wished Abby could see her now, changed and older, appreciating life as an AIDS patient should, stopping to smell the flowers or the froth on the waves.

And at that moment, it began to rain.

* * *

****

**_Author's Notes:_** Aha, here I am again! Some might ask why I made Starfire the sympathizer to Raven and not Robin. Well, Rob's been in the limelight for most of this fic anyway, and I never really gave credit enough to dear Starfire for her role in "Dangerous Minds." Also, it seemed fitting that even though Raven was inside Robin's head, Starfire should be the one to help her through her rut. It was more in character of the Tameranian than our little Robbie. Or so thought I. Though, I must say, I did debate that quite a bit. Well, I love you all, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it!!! Now let me post this little phrase at the bottom to make it all nice and complete:

**THE VERY END**


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